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Lifetime's Ratings Continue to Grow Through October

Powered by the hit original movies Steel Magnolias and Abducted: The Carlina White Story, and the milestone tenth season of the Emmy(R) Award-nominated Project Runway, Lifetime continued to grow in viewership during the month of October 2012, according to Nielsen Research.

On the heels of three straight quarters of growth, Lifetime registered a +16% increase among Women 25-54 and +13% in Adults 25-54, the network's strongest October-to-October growth for the two demographics in 11 years. Lifetime posted jumps of +20% among Women 18-49 and +14% with Adults 18-49 vs. October 2011 -- both network bests for the month since 2007. Lifetime also was a top five basic cable network last month among Women 18-49, jumping to #5 from #11 in October 2011, and Women 25-54, ranking #4 vs. #5 last October.

The October 8 world premiere of Steel Magnolias averaged 6.5 million Total Viewers, becoming Lifetime's third most-watched original telecast ever (its best delivery since Life is Not a Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story in 2006) and the number one ad-supported cable movie among Total Viewers since 2007 (excluding miniseries). The film averaged 3.2 million Adults 25-54 viewers, the network's strongest performance in the demo for a movie in 17 years since 1995's Almost Golden: The Jessica Savitch Story and an ad-supported cable best since 2006. Among Women 25-54, Steel Magnolias is Lifetime's most-watched movie ever with 2.5 million viewers, an ad-supported cable best since at least 2004. It also averaged 3.0 million Adults 18-49 viewers (ad-supported cable's best since 2007) and 2.4 million Women 18-49 viewers (ad-supported cable's best since 2010). In addition, the movie registered triple-digit increases versus the 2012-to date Lifetime movie average, including +171% among Total Viewers, +266% in Women 18-49, +253 in Adults 18-49, +232% among Women 25-54 and +229% in Adults 25-54.

The October 6 world premiere of Abducted: The Carlina White Story averaged 4.1 million Total Viewers, as well as 1.8 million Adults 25-54 viewers, 1.6 million Adults 18-49 viewers, 1.4 million Women 25-54 viewers and 1.3 million Women 18-49 viewers. Immediately following the movie, Lifetime's hour-long documentary Beyond the Headlines: Carlina White averaged 3.5 million Total Viewers, 1.6 million Adults 25-54 viewers, 1.5 million Adults 18-49 viewers, 1.3 million Women 25-54 viewers and 1.2 million Women 18-49 viewers.

Year-to-date, Lifetime is pacing ahead of 2011-YTD by +16% among Women 18-49, the network's strongest year-to-year growth in 14 years; +9% in Adults 18-49, a network best in 11 years; +8% among Women 25-54, Lifetime's strongest YTD-to-YTD jump in a decade; and +3% with Adults 25-54, its strongest in seven years. Lifetime's YTD median age of 48 is its youngest in 16 years. YTD, Lifetime ranks #5 among Women 18-49 (vs. #11 in 2011-YTD) and Women 25-54 (vs. #9 2011-YTD). Among the top 10 basic cable networks, Lifetime is the second fastest-growing network with Women 18-49.

2012 highlights for Lifetime include:

Steel Magnolias and Drew Peterson: Untouchable are 2012's #1 and #2 movie telecasts, respectively, across cable among Total Viewers, Adults 18+, Women 18+, Adults 25-54, Women 25-54, Adults 18-49 and Women 18-49 (excluding miniseries).

Project Runway season ten propelled Lifetime to be the #1 cable network in the Thursday 9-10:30pm time period among Women 25-54.

The October 25th season two premiere of Project Runway All Stars was the #1 unscripted series across cable in its Thursday 9-10pm time period among Women 25-54.

The Houstons: On Our Own series premiere was the #1 telecast in its Wednesday 9-10pm time period across cable among Women 25-54 and Women 18-49.

Dance Moms season two was the #1 unscripted cable series in its Tuesday 9-10pm time period among Women 18-49 and Women 2+. Season two also over-delivered season one by +69% with Adults 18-49, +72% Women 18-49, +64% with Adults 25-54 and +66% with Women 25-54. It is Lifetime's youngest-skewing current series, with a season two median age of 32 years old, five years younger than season one.

Army Wives season six was the #1 ad-supported cable series in its premiere time period among Women 18+. YTD, it ranks as a top five ad-supported cable drama among Women 18-49 (#5).

Drop Dead Diva season four ranked as the #1 drama across ad-supported cable in the Sunday 9-10pm time period with Women 25-54, Women 18-49, Women 2+ and Women 18+.

Army Wives and Drop Dead Diva launched Lifetime to the #1 cable network on Sundays 9-11pm among Women 25-54.

The Client List delivered Lifetime's strongest freshman season for an original series since Drop Dead Diva among Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Women 25-54. Among Adults 18-49 and Women 18-49, it was the best freshman season since Army Wives premiered in 2007. The Client List propelled Lifetime to #1 in the Sunday 10-11pm hour among Women 18+.

America's Most Wanted has improved the Friday 9-10pm day part by +42% with Adults 25-54, +21% with Women 25-54, +38% with Adults 18-49, +19% with Women 18-49 and +36% with Total Viewers.

In First Quarter 2012, Lifetime posted major growth in viewership among the key demos versus First Quarter 2011, including a +9% jump in Adults 25-54, +12% with Women 25-54, +14% with Adults 18-49 and +18% with Women 18-49. For Second Quarter 2012, the network continued to enjoy growth compared to Second Quarter 2011, posting a 13% jump among Women 18-49, +5% among Adults 18-49 and +1% in Women 25-54. In Third Quarter 2012, Lifetime registered a +14% increase among Women 18-49 versus Third Quarter 2011, its strongest year-to-year growth for a Third Quarter in 11 years; +9% in Women 25-54, its strongest in a decade; and +5% among Adults 18-49, a 3Q best for Lifetime in 11 years. Lifetime's median age of 48 marked 3Q'12 as its youngest Third Quarter in 14 years.