NEW YORK, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Food Network's newest, ground-breaking series, The Next Iron Chef, lived up to its name on Sunday night, with 3.3 million viewers tuning in to see the highest-level culinary competition on television, according to Nielsen Media Research. The series also delivered in the network's target demographic, adults 25-54, with 1.9 million viewers checking out the nation's best chefs in their quest to attain one of the most coveted titles in food.
"The Next Iron Chef is the next generation of culinary competition shows and we are thrilled our viewers enjoyed the first episode," said Bob Tuschman, Senior Vice President, Programming and Production, Food Network. "There is more high-stakes cooking and culinary drama to come."
The new series drew a higher concentration of men for Food Network with nearly half the audience comprised of male viewers (44 percent). This was exemplified in the ratings where men 25-54 and 18-49 both posted a .8 rating, respectively -- The Next Iron Chef ranked third in all ad-supported cable networks among both male groups during the show's 9pm run on Sunday.
The Next Iron Chef continues Food Network's run of having successful premieres in the reality food competition genre, with the series posting a 1.1 household rating (up 55 percent versus same time period last year) and a .8 25-54 demographic rating (up 48 percent versus same time period last year) ranking third among ad-supported cable for Sunday's 9pm airing.
FOOD NETWORK (http://www.foodnetwork.com/) is a unique lifestyle network and Web site that strives to be way more than cooking. The network is committed to exploring new and different ways to approach food -- through pop culture, competition, adventure, and travel -- while also expanding its repertoire of technique-based information. Food Network is distributed to more than 90 million U.S. households and averages more than seven million Web site users monthly. With headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit and Knoxville, Food Network can be seen internationally in Canada, Australia, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Monaco, Andorra, Africa, France, and the French-speaking territories in the Caribbean and Polynesia. The E.W. Scripps Company , which also owns and operates HGTV (http://www.hgtv.com/), DIY Network (http://www.diynetwork.com/), Great American Country (http://www.gactv.com/) and FINE LIVING (http://www.fineliving.com/), is the manager and general partner.
