History Scores Ratings Feat With Live Ode to Evel Knievel
Are stunts going to make a comeback... again?
Remember when basic cable networks were scrambling to program live "stunts" in a bid to cash in on live viewerships? Well, it's still happening. And that might not be the worst idea.
Sunday's coverage of action athlete Travis Pastrana paying tribute to legendary daredevil Evel Knievel in Las Vegas was a boon to History. Evel Live, which followed three big stunts taped live in Las Vegas, set social feeds aflutter and averaged a whopping 3.5 million viewers over three hours on the A+E Network. Excluding news and mainstream sports, that made it cable's most-watched special of 2018 to date.
The cable networks were all over the stunt fad just five years ago. That's when Discovery pulled in 13 million viewers to watch Nik Wallenda successfully tightrope walk across the Grand Canyon. But Wallenda's Chicago follow-up pulled half of those viewers. And a squirrel suit jump from Mt. Everest was canned by an avalanche. Fox had its own Evel Knievel tribute poised for 2014, but budget and production concerns wiped it from the schedule.
As for Evel Live, it also scored in the demos — nabbing 1.6 million adults 25-54 and 1.2 million adults 19-49. On the digital front, video coverage has already pulled in 12 million views.
TV Ratings
