Oxygen Nets Premiere Record With 'Dance Your Ass Off'
Debut Draws 1.3 Million Watchers; Also Dances To Demo Marks
Thomas Umstead -- Multichannel News, 6/30/2009 6:08:52 PM EDT
A record number of Oxygen viewers tuned in last night to see several overweight people dance their asses off.
Monday's premiere of Oxygen's dance competition series Dance Your Ass Off drew nearly 1.3 million viewers, a record audience for a freshman series premiere on the women's-targeted network. The show, which features talented, full-figured contestants who take to the dance floor to shake the weight off, also set network records for a premiere series in several demos, including adults 18 to 49 (614,000) and women 18 to 49 (432,000), according to Oxygen officials.
Compared to the previous four Mondays' average, the series -- hosted by Tony Award-winning actress Marissa Jaret Winokur (Hairspray) -- increased the 9 p.m. time period by 249% among adults 18 to 49 (614,000 vs. 176,000), 211% among women 18 to 49 (432,000 vs. 139,000), 204% among females 18-34 (173,000 vs 57,000) and 249% among total viewers (1.27 million vs. 364,000), according to Oxygen.
The show was also a big hit on the Web: the network's site, www.Oxygen.com, drew nearly 40,000 unique visitors yesterday alone, a record for an Oxygen premiere. The show site has generated more than 1 million page views since it launched a month ago, according to the network.
