EXCLUSIVE: The Challenge had its best premiere ratings in three years with the debut of Season 40. Television’s longest-running reality competition show scored a 0.49 rating among adults 18 to 49 for the episode that aired Wednesday night on MTV, according to live+same-day audience data from Paramount Global.
That’s up 49% versus the 0.33 rating for Season 39. The Challenge Season 40 premiere also had a 4.0 share among the 18-to-49 demo, which indicates the percentage of people watching the episode out of all people watching television at that time.
That’s a 103% boost over the 1.97 share for the Season 39 premiere. Among the 18-to-34 crowd, the episode saw a 96% bump over the previous season premiere to a 0.38 rating (compared to 0.19 for Season 39).
The 18-to-34 share was 5.05, an impressive 166% lift over the 1.9 share managed last season. Overall, this is the biggest season-to-season premiere ratings growth in more than two decades, helping MTV to score its best Wednesday primetime ratings in those key demos in six months.
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