CMT's PARTY DOWN SOUTH Hits Series High with Season Premiere

The second season of CMT's top-rated series Party Down South kicked off with aseries high when the new season premiered Thursday, June 5 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT. An impressive 1.25 million Total Viewers tuned in for the premiere or immediate encore, and the premiere episode was up +75% from season one with a .67 P18-49 L+SD rating. Younger fans, and especially females, watched the cast reunite in Athens, Ga., as the series drew a .74 rating among P18-34, and a .88 rating among W18-34, up +184% from the season one launch.

#PartyDownSouth was a hit on Twitter as well, as the hashtag trended nationally throughout the show, peaking at #3. According to Nielsen SocialGuide, the show was the fourth most-tweeted about series yesterday. Much of the buzz can be attributed to CMT's multi-platform strategy that included opportunities to interact with the outspoken cast on social media, along with a social command center that live-tweeted and chatted with fans throughout the series premiere. CMT released the first in a series of comedic, animated videos yesterday featuring the Party Down South cast.

Season two kicked-off with Murray, Lyle, Daddy, Walt, Lil Bit, Mattie, Lauren and Tiffany packing their bags and bringing viewers along as they journeyed to Athens. When the group is finally together at last, they waste no time picking up where they left off - cracking open some beers and getting their party on. Daddy introduces everyone to his latest drinking toy, the Beer-Zooka, and Lil Bit reveals to the house that she has a boyfriend. This news does not sit well with Daddy, who has developed feelings for Lil Bit since the last time they were all together. By the end of the night, it's clear that this season will be filled with more drama, more surprises and more wild nights.

The channel hit back to back homeruns with Wednesday's 2014 CMT MUSIC AWARDS, scoring a 1.39 among P18-49 L+SD, up +7% from last year and the #1 original cable telecast for the day. It was followed by Thursday night's highly successful return of PARTY DOWN SOUTH, which posted a record setting debut.

Party Down South is produced by 495 Productions, with SallyAnn Salsano, Joel Zimmer and Kyle Simpson serving as executive producers. Jayson Dinsmore and Morgan Selzer executive produce for CMT.