COMEDY CENTRAL® Records Hottest Summer in History With Record Ratings and Delivery

NEW YORK, Sept. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- COMEDY CENTRAL closes out one of the hottest summers in recent memory with the all-comedy network's hottest summer in history.  Fueled by series both established and new, and ratings records for the months of July and August, 2010 marks COMEDY CENTRAL's highest-rated and most-watched summer ever among Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34, Men 18-34 and Men 18-24.  For the summer, COMEDY CENTRAL was the #1 cable network in Prime among Men 18-34 and Men 18-24.

Led by the break-out of "Tosh.0," the most-watched series in all of television on Wednesday nights with Men 18-34 and Men 18-24, the highly-anticipated return of "Futurama," which was the most-watched show in all television among Men 18-34 in its timeslot, and the epic "COMEDY CENTRAL Roast of David Hasselhoff," COMEDY CENTRAL saw ratings soar by double digits vs. last summer to all-time summer highs among Adults 18-49 (up +25%), Adults 18-34 (+35%), Men 18-34 (+37%) and Men 18-24 (+27%).

Summer success wasn't limited to just Primetime, as the Emmy® and Peabody® Award-winning "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report" cemented their status as the most-influential series in late night, recording the most-watched and highest-rated summers in each show's history among Total Viewers, Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34, Men 18-34 and Men 18-24.  COMEDY CENTRAL's late-night tandem also took the title as the most-watched late night talk shows, cable or broadcast, among Adults 18-34, Men 18-34 and Men 18-24.

COMEDY CENTRAL is poised to ride the momentum of summer straight through into the fall starting tonight with the first of two, special episodes of "The Colbert Report," welcoming the troops back home from Iraq and celebrating their service and sacrifice, and continuing with new seasons of "South Park" and "Ugly Americans" (premiering October 6); the series premiere of "Nick Swardson's Pretend Time" (October 12); the return of the network's autism awareness benefit, "Night of Too Many Stars"; continuing "Indecision 2010" coverage of the crucial mid-term elections by both "The Daily Show," which will broadcast a week of shows from Washington, D.C. (October 25-28), and "The Colbert Report," each of which will air live, election night specials (November 2).

COMEDY CENTRAL's record-breaking summer highlights include:

COMEDY CENTRAL Prime (Monday-Sunday 8:00 p.m. - 11:00 p.m.)

• Most-watched summer ever with Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34 and Men 18-34
• #1 cable net in Prime with Men 18-34 and Men 18-24
• Vs. last summer, Adults 18-49 ratings were up +25%, Adults 18-34 were up +35%, Men 18-34 were up +37% and Men 18-24 were up +27%
• Best ever July and August with Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34, Men 18-34 and Men 18-24
• July and August were the highest-rated months of the year to-date

Summer Data (Prime)

• COMEDY CENTRAL averaged a 0.6 Adults 18-49 rating, 0.8 Adults 18-34 rating, 1.0 Men 18-34 rating, and 1.1 Men 18-24 rating
• COMEDY CENTRAL drew an average 1.0 million Total Viewers (P2+), 668,000 Adults 18-49 viewers, 439,000 Adults 18-34 viewers, 286,000 Men 18-34 viewers and 128,000 Men 18-24 viewers

"The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Colbert Report"

• Most-watched and highest-rated summer ever among Total Viewers (P2+), Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34, Men 18-34 and Men 18-24
• Most-watched late night talk shows with Adults 18-34, Men 18-34 and Men 18-24
• Vs. last summer, ratings for "The Daily Show" were up +10% among Adults 18-49, +22% among Adults 18-34, up +20% among Men 18-34 and up +15% among Men 18-24.  Viewership grew +9% to 2.2 million Total Viewers (P2+)
• Vs. last summer, ratings for "The Colbert Report" were up +9% among Adults 18-49, +18% among Adults 18-34, up +13% among Men 18-34 and up +12% among Men 18-24.  Viewership grew +9% to 1.5 million Total Viewers (P2+)

"Tosh.0"

• Most-watched and highest-rated season ever among Total Viewers (P2+), Adults 18-49, Adults 18-34, Men 18-34, and Men 18-24
• Most-watched series in all of TV in Wednesday Prime with Men 18-34 and Men 18-24
• Most-watched series in cable in Wednesday Prime with Adults 18-49 and Adults 18-34
• Vs. last summer, Adults 18-49 ratings were up +210%, Adults 18-34 were up +214%, Men 18-34 were up +222%, and Men 18-24 were up +216%.  Viewership grew +169% to 2.8 million Total Viewers (P2+)

"Futurama"

• Most-watched show in all of TV in its timeslot with Men 18-34
• Vs. last summer in the timeslot, Adults 18-49 ratings were up +174%, Adults 18-34 were up +196%, Men 18-34 were up +207% and Men 18-24 were up +283%.  Viewership grew +147% to 2.5 million Total Viewers (P2+)

"The COMEDY CENTRAL Roast of David Hasselhoff"

• Drew 3.9 million Total Viewers (P2+) and 2.8 million Adult 18-49 viewers
• Was #1 cable show of the night with Adults and #1 in all of TV with Men 18-34
• Vs. last year's Roast (Joan Rivers), Hasselhoff saw a ratings gain of +41% among Adults 18-49 and +73% among Men 18-34 and saw viewership increase by +26% among Total Viewers (P2+) and +39% with Adult 18-49 viewers

Source: Nielsen Media Research, 5/31/10-9/5/10, most current data

COMEDY CENTRAL, the only all-comedy network, currently is seen in more than 98 million homes nationwide.  COMEDY CENTRAL is owned by, and is a registered trademark of, Comedy Partners, a wholly-owned division of Viacom Inc.'s (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) MTV Networks.  COMEDY CENTRAL's Internet address is www.comedycentral.com.  For up-to-the-minute and archival press information and photographs visit Press Central, COMEDY CENTRAL's press Web site, at www.comedycentral.com/press.

SOURCE COMEDY CENTRAL Corporate Communications