The network's best-performing series, RIVER MONSTERS, baited viewers with a two-hour, monster-sized season opener, "Face Ripper," in which host, biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade took viewers along as he investigated a horrific death in a Bolivian river where a man's face was ripped to shreds. The season premiere, which aired on Sunday, reeled in gigantic viewers with 1.8M P2+, making it the most-watched season debut in Animal Planet history and the second most watched episode of River Monsters ever.
The season debut, "Face Ripper," saw significant delivery increases among several key demos versus last season's average, including P2+ (+19%, 1.8M vs. 1.5M), HH (+9%, 1.2M vs. 1.1M), P18-49 (+18%, 938k vs. 795k), M18-49 (+28%, 608k vs. 474k) and M25-54 (+9%, 543k vs. 500k).River Monsters helped Animal Planet rank third, only behind History and AMC, among ad-supported cable nets in the 9-11pm timeslot with M18-49 (excluding sports) and fourth with M25-54. "Face Ripper" ranked as the 7th ad-supported cable telecast of the night among M18-49, just behind Mad Men.Now in the midst of its fifth season, new episodes of River Monsters premiere every Sunday at 9 PM. Wade continues his quest for answers, taking viewers along as he unravels fish tales of giant killers - where sometimes the fact is stranger than the fiction! In this new season, River Monsters takes treacherous and mysterious to new heights with the most dangerous adventures of his lifetime. Wade's journeys include a mission to Chernobyl's nuclear wastelands in search of mutant fish in a tick-tock race against time to avoid radiation exposure, a trip to Nicaragua to capture an elusive killer torpedo, and a bloodthirsty quest on American soil in pursuit of a prehistoric underwater vampire.Videos