Discovery Channel’s Groundbreaking New Series, SERENGETI Soars as Highest-Rated Nature Documentary Debut since 2013

Discovery Channel’s landmark series, SERENGETI by American Idol creator Simon Fuller and multi-award-winning wildlife filmmaker John Downer debuted as the highest-rated nature documentary on all of television since Discovery’s North America in May 2013 among P25-54, earning a 1.20 L+3 rating on Discovery. The premiere was also Sunday night’s most-watched cable telecast, averaging 3 million total viewers on the network and ranking as Sunday’s #1 cable telecast across all key men: M25-54, M18-49, and M18-34.

In addition, the premiere of SERENGETI reached 6.3 million total viewers across all of Sunday’s airings on all Discovery networks including Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Science Channel and Discovery en Español. The series’ home network, Discovery Channel ranked as the #1 non-sports cable network across M25-54, M18-49, M18-34, and Total Viewers in prime and SERENGETI became the network’s most-watched series debut since Naked and Afraid XL in summer 2015. The series also proved to be a tremendous co-viewing opportunity for Discovery Channel, as 18% of P25-54 watched with a K2-11, double the network’s regular programming this year.

This landmark series is created and produced by Fuller and directed and produced by Downer. Nancy Daniels and Howard Swartz serve as executive producers for Discovery Channel.

SERENGETI is made by XIX Entertainment and John Downer Productions and was commissioned for BBC TV by Tom McDonald, Head of Commissioning, Natural History and Specialist Factual.

Source: The Nielsen Company, L3 coverage area data; all ranks based on 000s; telecast ranks are 6a-6a, no exclusions, net ranks are 8-11p program-based strict daypart excl. breakouts.