Project Runway fans strutted their way
toward Lifetime Television in record numbers.
Lifetime's eagerly anticipated Aug. 20 season six
premiere of Project Runway drew a
series premiere record 3.3 household rating and 4.2 million viewers, well above
the 2.9 million viewers the model competition series drew in its July 2008
season five premiere on Bravo, according to Nielsen.
Lifetime acquired rights to the
popular reality series earlier this year after five seasons on Bravo.
The Heidi Klum-hosted series also set a Lifetime
record for a series premiere, besting the June 2007 debut of Army Wives, which drew 3.4 million
viewers.
Project Runway also set network
viewership highs for a series premiere among all major audience demos,
including women 18-34 (1.1 million) and adults 18-34 (1.4 million).
Project Runway's all-new companion
series, Models Of the Runway -- which
debuted immediately after Project Runway --
generated a 1.6 Household rating and averaged 1.9 million total viewers.
Project Runway: All-Star Challenge, a related special preceding
the series debut, drew a 2.3 household rating and 2.9 million viewers.
"We are thrilled about Project Runway's very strong
premiere, which surpassed all of our expectations," said Andrea Wong, President
and CEO of Lifetime Networks in a statement. "Congratulations to our
partners The Weinstein Company, Miramax Films, Bunim-Murray Productions, Full
Picture Productions and Marie Claire, and Project Runway's loyal
viewers for this successful launch. We can't wait to watch Project
Runway and Models of the Runway along with them this season."
In a first for the series, Lifetime earlier this week
announced it will stream all ProjectRunway episodes on its mylifetime.com site two days after their premieres
on the network.
