Flavor Finale Shatters VH1 Ratings Records

The clock is still ticking for Flavor Flav and VH1.

The old-school rap artist’s Flavor of Love 2 series finale Oct. 15 drew a VH1 record 7.5 million viewers and a 5.4 household viewership rating. The numbers toppled the 4.9 rating/5.9 million viewership mark set with the March 12 finale of Flavor of Love’s freshman run.

The show -- in which Flavor Flav picked Deelishis as his love match out of 20 potential women -- also averaged a record 4.6 rating in the key 18-49 demo, VH1 officials said.

The finale drew one out of every three African-American adults 18-49 watching television that evening, averaging an 18 rating/34 share within the demo.VH1’s broadband-video service, VSPOT, also benefited from the finale, generating a single-day record 1.1 million Flavor of Love streams.

VH1 also announced that it will make available episodes from the first two seasons of Flavor of Love on Apple Computer’s iTunes online store. Also available for download to iPods are network skeins Hogan Knows Best, Breaking Bonaduce and Strange Love, according to the network.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.