GOLD RUSH LIVE Breaks Discovery Channel's Friday Night Ratings Record

With over 10 million people watching,* Gold Rush LIVE was the #1 series in ALL OF TELEVISION among Men 25-54/18-49 delivery on Friday, February 22, beating all cable programs and broadcast series on networks that included ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC (no exclusions). The two-hour season finale made ranked #1 in ALL OF TELEVISION in Men 25-54 and Men 18-49 (no exclusions) for six consecutive weeks. Discovery was also the #1 cable network Friday evening among P/M/W25-54, P/M/W18-49 and broke records making 2/22/13 the highest-rated Friday prime-time evening in network history.

Gold Rush LIVE earned a 3.08 HH/2.53 P25-54/2.02 P18-49 and delivered 4.46 million viewers P2+ making it the #1 program in all of television among Men 25-54 and Men 18-49 delivery (excluding sports), beating all programming on cable and broadcast television. It was also the #1 ad-supported cable program among HH, P2+, P18+, P/M/W25-54 and P/M/W18-49 delivery, no exclusions.

The Yukon Men season premiere earned a series-high 1.74 HH/1.44 P25-54/1.09 P18-49 and delivered 2.6 million total viewers P2+ and was the #2 ad-supported cable program on Friday night behind only Gold Rush LIVE among both P/M 25-54 delivery (no exclusions) and P/M 18-49 delivery (no exclusions).

Fans of Gold Rush were on the edge of their seat to find out the final totals and had the opportunity to engage across platforms before, during and after the series finale, beginning with the Gold Rush LIVE Blog launched two weeks prior to the finale. Friday night's online backstage experience, hosted by Chris Jacobs, drew throngs of loyal viewers and offered exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at the live show, interviews with the miners and incorporated questions and commentary from viewers from Twitter and Viddy. #GoldRushLive was a U.S. Trending Topic on Twitter throughout the evening, as Discovery Channel featured fan Tweets live on air during three premiere hours.

GOLD RUSH LIVE hit the Mother Lode revealing the gold miners brought in a grand total of 1,158 ounces of gold between the three crews. Todd Hoffman set an ambitious 1,000 ounce goal for the season. He aimed high and fell short, but still pulled off a $1.28 million payday after he doubled down and secured two claims and twice the men and machines. Todd Hoffman's crew mined 803 ounces of gold for the season. Parker Schnabel turned a profit and mined 192 ounces, while "Dakota" Fred Hurt also hit his mark with 163 ounces of gold for the season.

The season finale, hosted by Christo Doyle, Executive Producer of Gold Rush and host of THE DIRT, provided a 'sneak peek" for season four including Todd Hoffman and Dave Turin journeying to South America to strike it rich. This summer will document Todd's journey down South with a 6-part series titled, GOLD RUSH: THE OFF-SEASON. "Dakota" Fred Hurt will continue to search for the mother lode by searching for gold in remote glacial territory. Parker Schnabel decides to head north to the Klondike as Tony Beets will lead the way for Schnabel as his mentor.

Source: Nielsen. NHI Calendar. 2/22/13. Live+SD AA% and AA (000).

(*)Source: Nielson. NHI Calendar. 2/22/13. Live+SD. Cume 1MIN QWAL.