'I Am Cait' Premiere Draws 2.7 Million Viewers
The long wait for I Am Cait ended Sunday night with the premiere of E!’s latest reality series — and while Caitlyn Jenner’s first solo reality vehicle definitely popped, initial ratings might not be as high as many would have guessed.
Per live-plus-same day Nielsen ratings, the first episode of I Am Cait brought an average audience of 2.73 million viewers. That’s slightly stronger from a typical night-of showing from Keeping Up With the Kardashians. (Jenner’s original E! entry hasn’t topped 3 million night-of viewers since 2013.)
Among those 2.73 million viewers, more than half (1.5 million) were adults 18-49. And, with a total of four airings across the night, the show did gross 6.2 million viewers. As for night-of, E! (and all NBCUniversal cable nets) now wait until at least live-plus-three-day ratings are in before issuing releases. The network will have share initial time-shifting and other stats later in the week.
Read More: ‘I Am Cait’: TV Review
Jenner set a very high ratings bar back in April when a sit-down interview with Diane Sawyer brought records for 20/20 and 17 million viewers. The hot streak continued with a special episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, “About Bruce,” which set a three-year high (4.2 million viewers) for the parent series. Earlier in July, Jenner’s appearance on ABC’s ESPYs telecast coincided with a significant bump and nearly 8 million viewers.
I Am Cait will have a shorter run, at least where reality is concerned, running another seven episodes this summer. The smaller order certainly adds to the event billing the series has been given, which already boasts an in-depth look at a public figure who’s been the subject of considerable interest of late.
