Yahoo News ‘Dark Side Of The Ring’ Crowned Vice TV’s Highest Rated Show In Cable Net’s History
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Wrestling doc series Dark Side of the Ring has become the highest rated show for Vice TV since its launch four years ago.
The season finale, which aired on May 19, averaged 390,000 live plus three viewers in the 18-49 demographic, which was 15% higher than its previous record, set by the show earlier in the season.
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This included a total number of viewers of 626,000 live plus three, up 12% on the previous week’s episode, according to Nielsen. The second season was also up 73% on the first season in the 18-49 demo.
The network, which took over A+E Networks’ H2, launched as Viceland in February 2016 and was rebranded to Vice TV earlier this year.
The second season of Dark Side of the Ring, which is produced by Evan Husney and Jason Eisener at Vice Studios, consists of ten episodes, up from six for season one. The network also launched an aftershow, hosted by comedian and wrestling fan Chris Gethard, that has been produced remotely following the coronavirus production shutdown.
The second season of the series launched at the end of March with a two-part special about the story of Chris Benoit, who in 2007, killed his wife Nancy and 7-year-old son Daniel before hanging himself.
Other stories this season include the murder of Dino Bravo, the controversial “Brawl for All” tournament that led to career-ending injuries, the feared career of New Jack, David Schultz’s violent run-in with a 20/20 reporter, the death of Nancy Argentino, Jimmy Snuka’s girlfriend, the inside story of wrestling’s ultimate tag team partnership Hawk and Animal; Herb Abrams’ fanatical attempt to build a wrestling empire and the devastating story of Owen Hart’s stunt that went tragically wrong.
Morgan Hertzan, EVP & General Manager, Vice TV told Deadline that he was “eagerly looking forward to explore more ways” to do Dark Side of the Ring as well as expand the franchise out to other areas. “We are using it to inform other shows that we’re greenlighting. The audience is telling us they love this kind of storytelling so we want to keep delivering on that over and over again,” he said.
He added that he was “ecstatic” about the ratings for the show. “Audiences respond to our courageous compelling storytelling, and this series has proven to be heavyweight in the television landscape,” he added. “I am very proud to partner with the incredible creatives at Vice Studios, and tag team executive producers Evan Husney and Jason Eisener who have so skillfully crafted this show. It is in every way the no holds barred type of programming that you can expect to see on Vice TV. Looking forward to the next KO.”
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