The 2-hour premiere of CNN’s 7-part original series The Eighties last Thursday brought in 598,000 live+same day viewers from the target 25-54 demographic. But the Live + 3 data shows viewership jumped +24 percent.
Moving from 598,000 to 742,000 is a significant lift and is greater than the live + 3 lift for the season two premiere of The Wonder List (+14 percent), and the series premiere of Race for the White House (+6.3 percent). The 742,000 average will continue to grow as live + 7 data trickles in later this week and next.
While CNN has focused much of its programming time and budget on the 2016 election, the network continues to produce new Original Series. Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown returns April 24. This is Life with Lisa Ling returns in the fall. And CNN Films, which is a sponsor of next week’s Tribeca Film Festival, continues producing and acquiring long-form content. All of these series broaden CNN’s scope, and help lead to large Live + 3 increases.
Part two of The Eighties airs tomorrow. The episode will focus on the Reagan Revolution.