‘Jersey Shore Family Vacation’ Has Helped MTV Get Its Groove Back — Ratings Watch

Gym. Tanning. Laundry. Ratings. The Situation, Snooki, J-Woww, Vinny, Pauly D and the rest have not only reunited for MTV, they’ve given the network a new ratings juggernaut.

More than five years after the original “Jersey Shore” ended its run, the new “Jersey Shore Family Vacation” has been an instant success for MTV — and just the latest example of TV’s never-ending success with nostalgia. As part of MTV’s attempt to recapture its old glory by tapping some familiar titles (see also: the return of “TRL” and the just-announced rebirth of “Yo! MTV Raps”), the new show gave MTV its highest-rated series debut ever in Live+3 ratings among its target adults 18-34 demo. And according to MTV, “Jersey Shore Family Vacation” was the most watched unscripted debut on cable since 2012 in both Live+ Same Day and Live+3 ratings with adults 18-34.

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In the wake of the success of “Jersey Show Family Vacation,” MTV just launched the series “Ex on the Beach” behind it, giving MTV its highest rated non–“Jersey Shore” unscripted series launch in over four years. The network also announced it will further its Thursday programming strategy with the new series “Made in Kentucky,” “Staten Island 10310,” “Too Stupid to Die” and “Just Tattoo of Us.”

Meanwhile, with the channel’s recent turnaround (MTV has been able as of late to tout itself as “the fastest growing cable network” following three consecutive quarters of ratings growth), MTV/VH1/Logo Group president Chris McCarthy just promoted Nina L. Diaz to president of programming and development for MTV, VH1 and Logo Group.

“Jersey Shore,” which first launched in 2009, has found rebirth as a major franchise for the channel and executive producer Sally Salsano (and her 495 Prods.) “Shore” has spawned the offshoots “Floribama Shore” in the U.S., “Geordie Shore” in the UK, “Gandia Shore” in Spain, “Warsaw Shore” in Poland, “Acapulco Shore” in Mexico and “Super Shore.”

“Jersey Shore Family Vacation” features original housemates Deena Nicole Cortese, Paul “Pauly D” Delvecchio,” Jenni “JWOWW” Farley, Vinny Guadagnino, Ronnie Ortiz-Magro, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, who are seen vacationing in Miami.

In other ratings news, “Roseanne” continues to dominate (again, part of that nostalgia trend) in both adults 18-49 and total viewers.

Over on Xfinity’s ranker of top video on-demand shows last week, “Game of Thrones” skyrocketed to No. 1, thanks to the service’s “Watchathon Week,” in which most premium catalogs were available for all customers. (That explains why so many premium shows did so well.)

Here are this week’s rankers:

Adults 18-49 ranker, week ending April 22, 2018:

Total viewers ranker, week ending April 22, 2018:

Here is this week’s Xfinity On Demand ranker:

Top 20 TV Series, April 16-22, 2018:

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