Food Network Serves Up Most-Watched November in History

Official Food Network press release:

NEW YORK – November 30, 2011 – Food Network delivers its highest-rated, most-watched November in network history (up 20 percent from November 2010). The month was watched nightly by an average of 1.3 million total P2+ viewers and posted a .6 in the core Adults 25-54 demo in prime. The Next Iron Chef continues its successful run in November, posting an average 1.5 Adults 25-54 (up 50 percent versus comparable weeks last year) and watched by an average of 2.9 million total P2+ viewers. Finishing 9^th among ad-supported cable networks in November marks the 6^th consecutive month Food Network has ranked in the top ten cable networks, according to Nielsen Media Research.

“Food Network represents a true destination across all of our platforms for consumers to enjoy the holiday season. Thanksgiving is the starting line for offering fans a one-stop source for preparing for their ideal holiday,” said Brooke Johnson, President of Food Network & Cooking Channel.

For the first time, Food Network produced daytime special Thanksgiving Live!, a viewer-interactive show featuring a bevy of Food Network talent including Alton Brown, Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray and more, fielding questions to avert Turkey-day disasters. The two-hour live broadcast was watched by 1.6 million total P2+ viewers and resulted in over 15,000 Tweets and 10,000 new “likes” on Facebook pages during the show contributing to the over 64,000 new “likes” for the month of November.

As a side dish to on-air programming,FoodNetwork.com’s Thanksgiving package (foodnetwork.com/thanksgiving) was record setting, receiving over 105.8 million page views; the day before Thanksgiving, FoodNetwork.com also broke the site’s record for single-day traffic with over 30 million page views. The site’s success, driven by the Thanksgiving holiday section, is up 28% over 2010.

“Our digital holiday offerings grow every year as we’ve seen our fans take full advantage of online as a resource for menu planning, recipes, gift guides, tips and videos,” said Bob Madden General Manager/Senior Vice President Online Brands, Food Network & Cooking Channel. “We aim to provide all of the tools necessary to create the perfect thanksgiving for our loyal fans.”