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PRETTY LITTLE LIARS Returns with Huge Ratings to ABC Family

Related: PRETTY LITTLE LIARS, ABC Family

Nominated for the 2nd consecutive year for Teen Choice's "Favorite Cable TV Drama" award, ABC Family's critically-"A"cclaimed and social-media favorite "Pretty Little Liars" was handily Tuesday's #1 TV telecast in Women 18-34 (1.2 million/3.5 rating), Viewers 12-34 (2.3 million/2.5 rating) and Females 12-34 (2.0 million/4.4 rating), the #1 cable TV telecast for the day in Women 18-49 (1.5 million/2.3 rating) and the #1 prime cable TV telecast Adults 18-34 (1.4 million/2.1 rating). Also impressive, among Adults 18-49 "Pretty Little Liars" beat FX's standout hit, "Justified," by a tenth of a rating point (1.4 rating vs. 1.3 rating).

The winter premiere became the series' #2 telecast on record in Adults 18-34 and its #3 telecast of all time in Adults 18-49 (1.8 million/1.4 rating), Women 18-49 and Women 18-34 (1.2 million/3.5 rating). In fact, it was its best season premiere ever in Adults 18-34 and 2nd-best opener in Adults 18-49, Women 18-34 and Women 18-49, behind only its January 2011 season debut.

In another impressive feat, "Pretty Little Liars" blew up social media sites across America, breaking the show's own previous records by generating more than 767,000 tweets, peaking at nearly 39,000 tweets per minute and accounting for over 52% of all Twitter activity on Tuesday. Jenn Deering Davis, Founder of TweetReach, said: "These kinds of volumes are normally seen in finales, after the season has time to build a larger fan base, not in the first episode of a brand new season. This is just one more indicator of how passionate and engaged in social media 'Pretty Little Liars' viewers are. And based on what we've seen over the past two years, their enthusiasm seems to be increasing season to season."

Moreover, according to SocialGuide, "Pretty Little Liars" holds the record for the Top 2 "most social" TV series episodes on record.

"The Lying Game" (9:00 - 10:00 p.m.)

In its Season 2 launch, "The Lying Game" delivered the series' biggest season opener to date in Adults 18-34 (649,000/1.0 rating), Women 18-34 (536,000/1.6 rating) and Women 18-49 (673,000/1.1 rating), standing as cable TV's #1 telecast in The Hour in Women 18-34, as well as Females 12-34 (957,000/2.1 rating).

- Versus the series' Winter 2012 average, "The Lying Game" was up across the board, including by 7% in Total Viewers (1.6 million vs. 1.5 million), by 13% in Adults 18-34 (649,000 vs. 572,000), by 11% in Women 18-34 (536,000 vs. 482,000) and by 10% in Viewers 12-34 (1.1 million vs. 1.0 million.

Source: NTI, 1/08/13, U.S. ratings, Live + Same Day; Social Media Sources: TweetReach, SocialGuide.