Click Here for More Articles on RATINGS WATCH...

Season 7 Premiere of PSYCH Draws Nearly 3 Million Viewers

Related: PSYCH, USA

USA's PSYCH, the network's longest running series on-air, bowed its seventh season premiere with double-digit increases over its February 2012 premiere in all demos, most notably among P18-34, with nearly three quarters of a million viewers in this key demo. The quirky series about a faux psychic and his best friend who work for the Santa Barbara Police Department also delivered more P18-34 and more total viewers than any telecast of Psych in 2012.

To propel social engagement, pre-premiere, USA created the Premiere Night Prize-a-Thon on Twitter with 100 Psych prizes in The Hour leading into the premiere where fans answered trivia questions and sent in photos, and by using #PsychIsBack which trended during the episode worldwide and nationally past the show's close. Throughout the night, USA created and live-tweeted gifs as part as it real-time response strategy. Compared to the premiere date last winter, social media activity for Psych was up +96%, and yesterday was the best day ever for social media mentions for a USA Network series premiere. Psych was also the #1 scripted cable show socially last night.

Excitement for the premiere was fueled by PSYCH's "social" slumber party last Friday, where nearly a million of the show's fans, affectionately called PSYCH-Os, stayed Up All Night to watch the show and tweet about it with the cast in a groundbreaking second screen experience. With 172K social media mentions, the party delivered the best day ever for USA in social media activity. As a result, last Friday's marathon experienced ratings that surpassed the prior four-week time period average by double-digits in all demos. Last night's premiere delivered:

P18-49: 1.3 million (1258, +22% vs. the February 2012 premiere and +10% vs. the Winter 2012 average)

P25-54: 1.2 million (1164, +17% / +1%)

P18-34: 723,000 (+41% / +38%)

Total Viewers: 2.9 million (2940, +20% / +12%)