Disney Original Movie Sets All-Time 'High’
'Musical’ Sequel’s 17.2M Viewers Shatters Mark
By R. Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 8/26/2007 6:00:00 PM MT
Disney Channel has set a new bar: 17.2 million viewers for a single airing of a basic cable show. And a second bar, as well: 33.1 million viewers, for three showings over a three-day weekend. In effect, one out of every 10 Americans watched High School Musical 2.
“It’s a marker for the TV industry and another defining moment for cable,” said TV historian Tim Brooks, likening it to CNN’s images of the first Gulf War in early 1990s, which put cable news programming on the television map.
In the last couple years, Disney Channel has made a habit of jumping over the bars it sets. When Disney’s first High School Musical movie set a Disney Channel viewership record with 7.7 million viewers in January 2006, it took less than six months before it was eclipsed by the 8.1 million viewers that tuned into Disney’s sequel to its popular Cheetah Girls movie.
But next summer’s Cheetah Girls 3 — or any Disney-produced original for that matter — will be hard pressed to beat the record-setting 17.2 million viewers generated by Disney’s Aug. 17 showing of High School Musical 2.
In fact, any cable-distributed series, movie or live event from here on out will have a tough time reaching HSM2’s lofty perch.
“High School Musical has clearly captured the imagination of youths and a good number of twentysomethings, as well,” he added.
And then some.
| Most Viewed Cable Movies Of All Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Movie | Airdate | Network | Viewers 2+ |
| SOURCE: ABC Cable analysis of Nielsen Media Research data |
|||
| 1. High School Musical 2 | 8/17/07 | Disney | 17.2 million |
| 2. Crossfire Trail | 1/21/01 | TNT | 12.5 million |
| 3. Rugrats All Growed Up | 6/25/06 | Nick | 11.9 million |
| 4. Broken Trail (pt.1) | 6/25/06 | AMC | 9.9 million |
| 5. Broken Trail (pt. 2) | 6/26/06 | AMC | 9.4 million |
| 6. Call Me Claus | 12/02/01 | TNT | 9.4 million |
| 7. High School Musical 2 | 8/18/07 | Disney | 8.4 million |
| 8. Last Stand at Saber River | 1/19/07 | TNT | 8.3 million |
| 9. Jump In! | 1/12/07 | Disney | 8.16 million |
| 10. Cheetah Girls 2 | 8/25/06 | Disney | 8.12 million |
BY THE NUMBERS
The movie, which followed the exploits of singing/dancing students of fictional East High as they embarked on summer vacation, obliterated virtually all cable ratings numbers:
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The movie’s 17.2 million viewers beat out the former cable high of 16.8 million viewers generated by a November 1993 CNN free trade political debate between Ross Perot and Al Gore.
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The movie became the most watched telecast ever among kids 6-11 (6.1 million) and tweens 9-14 (5.9 million). A remarkable 4 out of 5 girls 6-11 were watching the premiere of HSM2.
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HSM2 ranks as the No. 1 basic cable movie of all time, besting TNT’s December 2001 telecast of western-flick Crossfire Trail (12.5 million) by 38%.
Based on the movie’s three weekend airings, approximately 4 out of every 10 kids 6-11 watched HSM2 at some point over the Aug. 17-Aug. 19 weekend.
Disney’s HSM2 performance even blew away the company’s most liberal predictions, according to Anne Sweeney, co-chair of Disney Media Networks.
“Disney Channel has always been a business within the Walt Disney Company that was a great supporter of company franchises, but this movie really propelled Disney channel into a role of a creator of franchises,” Sweeney said.
Other Disney divisions are also benefiting from HSM2’s magic. The HSM2 CD release last week debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Album charts, with 615,000 units sold — the second highest mark for the year behind the 623,000 sold for rock group Linkin Park’s Minutes To Midnight album, according to Variety.
During the movie’s premiere week, Disney.com averaged nearly 2.3 million unique page views a day, a record since for the site since its relaunch in February 2007.
HSM2’s numbers also lifted the network’s fortunes for its whole Friday night lineup.
A new episode of Hannah Montana featuring an appearance from tween-targeted pop singing group the Jonas Brothers set the record for a primetime cable series with 10.7 million viewers, topping the 7.1 million viewers generated by the June 18 premiere of TNT’s The Closer.
The Hannah Montana episode also set cable industry viewership records for a series among kids 6-11 (4.2 million) and tweens 9-14 (4.1 million).
A 15-minute special preview of Disney’s upcoming original animated series Phineas and Ferb bested Hannah Montana’s numbers in total viewers (10.8 million) and kids 6-11 (4.2 million), and tied Hannah Montana as the second-most-watched show ever among tweens 9-14 (4.2 million).
For the week of Aug. 13-19, Disney’s average 5.8 million viewers — boosted by its Friday night lineup — delivered the second largest prime audience for any cable network in recorded history, behind only ESPN’s 6.0 million average viewers for the week of Dec. 26, 2005. The network bested all cable networks for the week and all but two broadcast network — CBS (6.7 million) and Fox (6.0 million) — according to an ABC Cable analysis of Nielsen Media Research data.
Disney Channel Worldwide entertainment president Gary Marsh said the movie also showed that the network could extend its reach beyond its target 9-14 tween audience.
“What’s so remarkable is that we set a ratings record as a kids-targeted network that doesn’t have access to the tens of millions of adult viewers that other cable networks do,” he said. “High School Musical 2 has changed that paradigm.”
Robert Thompson, director of The Center for the Study of Popular TV at Syracuse University in New York added that HSM2 also showed that quality, family programming can still draw huge audiences amongst today’s often coarse television content.
“The ultimate lesson to be learned from the industry is if you can come up with a way to make a program that parents are happy letting kids of all ages watch and that their older siblings not only don’t mind watching but actually enjoy watching, you have solved the biggest mystery of American entertainment and you have let yourself in for the biggest riches in American entertainment,” he said.
SO NOW WHAT?
While HSM2 may hold the all time viewership record today, Brooks believes that it’s only a matter of time before another cable show knocks HSM2 out of the box.
“The ratings bar for hits on cable, despite the fragmentation, keeps getting higher,” said Brooks, who is also Lifetime’s executive vice president of research. “Ratings of hits on cable are getting bigger, and I think the ground is ripe for something to top this record. Cable is becoming the place for big events, series and [original] movies.”
Whether that show comes from Disney is another matter. Certainly it won’t come from a small-screen High School Musical 3: Sweeney said the company is already at work developing a theatrical version of the High School Musical franchise. And while Disney’s original movie franchise is on an incredible roll — nine out of the network’s last 10 movies have drawn 5 million or more viewers during their respective premieres — none have drawn more than 10 million viewers in one showing.
The network has lined up a sequel to its 2005 witch-oriented movie Twitches set to premiere in October and the third part of the Cheetah Girls franchise (this time minus Disney star Raven Symone), set for an August 2008 debut. The last installments of both franchises drew more than 7 million viewers, but Marsh admits that HSM2 may have been a once in a lifetime event that will be difficult to match.
“We have to savor this moment and acknowledge that it was a force of nature; that is was a coming together of a lot of elements — the music element, the power of Disney Channel right now, the strong thematic components of the movie, the willingness of families to embrace this kind of storytelling in a world fraught with all sorts of heartache right now,” he said. “All of those elements combined make this moment in time a unique and special one.”
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