September 11, 2009

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES Takes a Bite Out of Thursday Night as 1.5 Million Viewers Feast on Premiere

– More than 3.5 million sample new series –
– Encore presentation of premiere on MuchMusic tonight at 8 p.m. ET and on CTV Saturday, Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. ET –
– Sink your teeth into a new episode, next Thursday, September 17 at 8 p.m. ET –

“VAMPIRE DIARIES has serious teeth….hooked after one episode”
- New York Post

Toronto, ON (September 11, 2009) – Nearly 1.5 million (1.462) Canadians sank their teeth into last night’s premiere of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES on CTV, quenching the desire of hordes of young viewers hungry for their vampire fix. The series premiere was the #1 program of the night in Calgary and Vancouver in the key A18-49 and A25-54 demos and #2 nationally. Demonstrating its staying power, the premiere grew 13% in its second half with total viewers and 20% with A18-34. Over the course of the premiere, more than 3.5 million viewers got sucked in to some part of the broadcast.

**Media note: Download photos for THE VAMPIRE DIAIRES at www.ctvmedia.ca

In the U.S. preliminary overnight data reports that 4.8 million viewers tuned in to the premiere on CW, making it the network’s most watched series premiere ever.

An encore of last night’s episode will air on MuchMusic tonight at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET and on CTV Saturday, Sept. 12 at 8 p.m. ET and is available now on demand at CTV.ca. Leading up to the premiere, CTV.ca’s exclusive sneak peek contributed to the buzz, along with the prequel web series THE VAMPIRE DIARIES: A DARKER TRUTH, which remains available on demand on the CTV Video Player at CTV.ca.

In the next episode, “Night of the Comet” (Thursday, September 17 at 8 p.m. ET on CTV), Vicki (Kayla Ewell) is in the hospital recovering from the attack she can barely remember. Stefan (Paul Wesley) goes to the hospital and tries to use his abilities to make sure Vicki doesn't remember what really happened, but his attempt is cut short when Vicki's brother Matt (Zach Roerig) arrives. At a parent/teacher conference, Mr. Tanner (guest star Canadian Benjamin Ayres, SMALLVILLE) makes Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning) feel that she is failing as a surrogate parent, especially when it comes to Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen). Elena (Nina Dobrev) decides to go to the Salvatore house to talk to Stefan, but finds his charming brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder) instead.

CTV, Canada’s Olympic Network, is also Canada's largest private broadcaster. Featuring a wide range of quality news, sports, information, and entertainment programming, CTV is Canada’s most-watched television network. CTV Inc. also owns radio stations across the country and owns or has interests in leading national specialty channels, featuring news, sports, factual, arts, entertainment, music, youth and fashion programming. CTV Inc. is owned by CTVglobemedia Inc., Canada’s premier multi-media company, which also owns Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail. CTV is the official broadcaster of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games and London 2012 Games of the Olympiad. More information about CTV may be found on the company website at www.ctv.ca.

- CTV –

Source:
Canada - BBM Canada, preliminary PPM overnights
U.S. - Nielsen Media Research, preliminary overnight data

For more information, contact:
Renée Horton, CTV Inc., 416.384.5374 or renee.horton@ctv.ca
Jim Quan, CTV Inc., 416.384.5311 or jim.quan@ctv.ca

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