The following was issued by WWE:
WWE? BEATS AMERICAN IDOL
April 23, 2009
STAMFORD, CT, April 23, 2009 ? World Wrestling Entertainment? television programming beat American Idol in the all important M18-34 advertiser demo for the week of April 13th. WWE? reached more than 16 million viewers domestically last week, an increase of 19% year to year.
During the week, WWE programming reached 2,303,000 Men 18-34, 4,782,000 Men 18-49 and 10,318,000 Males 2+, more than the following network programs:
* American Idol with 1,972,000 (Tuesday) and 2,117,000 (Wednesday) Men 18-34
* House with 1,415,000 Men 18-34; 3,354,000 Men 18-49 and 6,700,000 Males 2+
* The Office with 1,679,000 Men 18-34 and 3,169,000 Men 18-49
* CSI and CSI Miami with 8,559,000 and 6,581,000 Males 2+ respectively
With the addition of the new one-hour show WWE Superstars? on WGN America to the already stellar TV lineup that includes Monday Night Raw?, Friday Night SmackDown?, and ECW?, WWE now provides fans with 21 hours of programming each week.
Monday Night Raw, Friday Night SmackDown and WWE Superstars were also the most watched telecasts on their respective network, USA, MyNetworkTV and WGN America, for the week. For advertisers looking to reach key male demographics, WWE’s dominance with men is the reason why WWE considers itself the best value in entertainment.
Additional information on World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: WWE) can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com. For information on our global activities, go to www.wwe.com/worldwide/.
*** Source: Nielsen Media Research, 4/13/09 live + same day Persons 2+.