Velocity Goes Full Throttle With Its Best Year, Best Quarter and Best December Ever in 2016
Velocity's Original Series BITCHIN' RIDES, WHEELER DEALERS and BARRETT-JACKSON LIVE Help Drive the Network to Record Setting Year
January 3, 2017
Velocity shifted into an entirely new gear with record ratings success in 2016. As the network celebrated its fifth anniversary, Velocity earned its highest delivering year, quarter and December ever during Primetime among key demos including M25-54, M18-49, P25-54, P18-49, P2+ and Households. Additionally, 4Q16 marked 17 quarters of year-over-year Primetime delivery growth among Households and P2+, and Velocity earned strong ratings gains in December during Primetime (vs. December 2015) including: +14% P25-54; +9% M25-54; +18% P18-49; +13% M18-49; + 14% P18-34; and +8% P2+. Since launching in October 2011 Velocity is the fastest growing ad-supported cable network in terms of subscribers.
Velocity’s record 2016 was powered, in part, by the much anticipated third season of the breakout hit series BITCHIN’ RIDES featuring automotive design visionary Dave Kindig, season 13 of viewer favorite WHEELER DEALERS and nearly 100 hours of live event programming with BARRETT-JACKSON LIVE.
BITCHIN’ RIDES was Velocity’s #1 program in 2016 with an average 0.53 M25-54 rating and delivering 535,000 P2+ viewers per episode in season three. The December 20 premiere episode (9 PM ET/PT) was the network’s most-watched telecast in 2016, scoring a 0.70 M25-54 rating and delivering 732,000 P2+ viewers. The global phenomenon WHEELER DEALERS ended the year as Velocity’s #2 series with the December 14 premiere (9 PM ET/PT) capturing the series’ largest audience to date of 664,000 P2+ viewers. While Velocity’s four BARRETT-JACKSON LIVE broadcasts in 2016 earned the network eight million viewers (P2+), a 29% increase over the 2015 broadcasts.
The network also had a record year and quarter in Total Day among Households, M25-54, M18-49, M18+ P25-54, P18-49, P18-34 and P2+ while December ranked as the network’s most watched month ever in M25-54, M18-49, M18-34, P25-54, P18-49 and P18-34.
*Prime rankings: excludes NICK/TOON for available tuning content less than <50% of available hours in Prime.
Source: Nielsen. Live+3D. Program-based data. Coverage Ratings. PRIME = M-Su, 8-11p Starts during/Ends during/Spans. Excludes breakouts. Reach has a 6-minute qualifier. Npower.
About Velocity
Velocity, a division of Discovery Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK), is the only upscale men’s cable network that focuses on thrilling automotive for its viewers. Velocity programming is diverse, intelligent and engaging, capturing the best of the human experience as told by the top experts in the field. Formerly HD Theater, the fully HD network is available in 71 million homes, and viewers can enjoy their favorite shows anytime, anywhere through Velocity Go – the network’s TVE offering featuring live and on demand access to complete seasons. Audiences can also connect with Velocity at Velocity.com, as well as on Facebook at facebook.com/VelocityTV or on Twitter @Velocity.
About Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is the leader in global entertainment reaching 3 billion cumulative subscribers in more than 220 countries and territories. Discovery satisfies curiosity, entertains and inspires viewers with high-quality content through global brands, led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Science and Turbo/Velocity, as well as U.S. joint venture network OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, and through the Discovery Digital Networks portfolio, including Seeker and SourceFed. Discovery owns Eurosport, the leading pan-regional sports entertainment destination across Europe and Asia-Pacific. Discovery also is a leading provider of educational products and services to schools, including an award-winning series of K-12 digital textbooks, through Discovery Education. For more information, please visit www.DiscoveryCommunications.com.
###