Pitbulls and Parolees Thanksgiving special carves up ratings records


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Michelle Clancy

| 10 December 2015




Animal Planet served up a special Thanksgiving-themed episode of Pit Bulls & Parolees, and feasted on ratings gold.


The show, which aired Saturday 28 November, delivered a heaping 1.4 million P2+ viewers. As a result, the sixth annual ‘You Watch. We Give’ matching initiative carved out $50,000 in donations towards Villalobos Rescue Centre, the largest pit bull rescue in the country and the 501c3 non-profit featured in the show.

The episode, A New Best Friend, is the series’ most-watched episode of the season across all major demos, including persons aged 2+ (1.4 million), persons aged 25-54 (538,000), persons aged 18-49 (518,000) and women aged 25-54 (354,000). In addition, the episode ranks as the No 1 original cable telecast in its time slot with P25-54, W25-54 and W18-49 (excluding movies and sports) and helped Animal Planet rank among the top ten most-watched, ad-supported cable networks in the time slot with women (excluding sports).

Pit Bulls & Parolees was the No 2 most social show on cable (non-sports) as well, according to Nielsen Social Guide. Fans of the series are among the most enthusiastic Animal Planet viewers, and they took to the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Continuing the #ShowUsYourPits call-to-action across platforms, Animal Planet encouraged fans to share pictures of their beloved pit bulls – some were featured on Animal Planet throughout the episode. This garnered thousands of social mentions, generating a Trending Tag on Instagram, filling up the show Facebook page (with more than 1.4 million fans) and lighting up Twitter.