The new FX miniseries American Horror Story: Asylum got off to an insane start as its premiere telecast (10/17/12, 10-11:05 PM) was the #2 two-ranked primetime program on television Wednesday in Adults 18-34, Women 18-34 and Men 18-34 behind ABC‘s Modern Family, and it was TV’s #1-ranked program in the 10 PM time-period in those demos. In addition, it ranked as cable’s top program on Wednesday in Adults 18-49 and Women 18-49.
For the night, Chapter 1 of American Horror Story: Asylum, “Welcome to Briarcliff,” drew a combined multi-telecast audience of 5.79 million Total Viewers, 4.17 million Adults 18-49 and 2.7 million Adults 18-34 (premiere at 10, and encore telecasts at 11:05 PM and 1 AM). Those totals marked respective gains of +15%, +29% and +50% over the multi telecast audience for the 2011 premiere of its predecessor American Horror Story (10/5/11).
“We congratulate Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, Dante Di Loreto and Tim Minear, the producers, writers, crew, and especially our award-winning cast,” said FX Networks President and General Manager John Landgraf. “Ryan’s decision to make this show a new miniseries every year was a stroke of genius and the audience totally embraced the concept. For FX to have Sons of Anarchy and American Horror Story: Asylum on back-to-back nights as two of TV’s top-rated shows is a wonderful achievement and a true credit to our showrunners.”
On a first-run basis, AHS: Asylum posted 2.78 million Adults 18-49 (2.20 rating), 1.78 million Adults 18-34 (2.63 rating), 1.62 million Women 18-49 (2.54 rating), 1.01 million Women 18-34 (2.97), 771,000 Men 18-34 (2.28 rating) and 3.85 million Total Viewers. The debut of American Horror Story: Asylum outpaced any single telecast of American Horror Story (10/5/11), and topped that miniseries’ debut with increases of +37% in Adults 18-49; +50% in Adults 18-34; +49% in Women 18-49; +54% in Women 18-34; +44% in Men 18-34, and +21% in Total Viewers.
American Horror Story: Asylum was the #1 program last night at 10 PM in Adults 18-34 by a landslide, beating Nashville (ABC) by +56% (1.78 million vs. 1.14 million); CSI (CBS) by +111% (1.78 million vs. 844,000); and Chicago Fire (NBC) by +133% (1.78 million vs. 763,000). It also was the runaway #1 program at 10 PM vs. broadcast in delivery of Women 18-34 outpacing ABC, CBS and NBC in that demo by +26%, +106%, and +112% respectively.
It ranked as television’s #2 program Wednesday at 10 PM in delivery of Adults 18-49 on Wednesday at 10 PM behind CSI (2.35 rating), and ahead of Nashville (ABC) by +8%, and Chicago Fire (NBC) by +45%.
FX’s lead-in movie to American Horror Story: Asylum, the broadcast premiere of Twilight: New Moon, turned in an outstanding performance, delivering 1.55 million Adults 18-49.
