Last night’s season nine premiere of Lifetime’s Emmy(r) Award-nominated Project Runway averaged 2.7 million Total Viewers, posting an 8% premiere-to-premiere jump in the demo, according to Nielsen Research. The series’ return also averaged 1.5 million Adults 25-54 viewers; 1.4 million Adults 18-49 viewers, 1.2 million Women 25-54 viewers and 1.1 million Women 18-49 viewers, with a 2.2 Household rating.
Leading into Project Runway’s launch, the hour-long Project Runway: Road to the Runway Casting Special, which profiled this season’s designers, averaged 1.5 million Total Viewers.
Online, the official Project Runway show site on myLifetime.com recorded its best season premiere day ever in unique visitors and page views, improving 19% and 95%, respectively, on the previous record from season 6. Project Runway also topped Trendrr TV’s Daily Cable Top 10 Social Television Chart yesterday, recording more than double the social media conversation of any other show.
In the show’s 90-minute format, Project Runway kicked off its ninth season with 20 designers – the most in the series’ history – who encountered host Heidi Klum, mentor Tim Gunn and judges Michael Kors and Nina Garcia to make a case why they deserve one of the 16 coveted spots this season. As part of the winner’s prize package, this season’s victorious designer will receive $100,000 from L’Oréal Paris to start his/her own line, a fashion spread in Marie Claire magazine, a $50,000 technology suite by HP and Intel to create his/her own vision and run his/her business and the opportunity to design and sell an exclusive collection on Piperlime.com. The model paired with the winner of Project Runway will also appear in the designer’s editorial feature in Marie Claire and receive $25,000 from L’Oreal Studio Secrets Professional.
(source: Lifetime)
