High School Musical 2 Most-Viewed Cable Telecast Ever
Sequel to Disney Channel Hit Draws Highest-Ever Audience of Kids for Broadcast or Cable

By Anne Becker
Broadcasting & Cable
8/18/2007

Disney Channel's High School Musical 2 rocked the ratings Friday night, drawing an enormous 17.2 million viewers -- the most for any basic-cable telecast ever and nearly 10 million more than the original movie in January, according to preliminary ratings from Nielsen Media Research.

(****HSM2 was seen Friday in Canada on Family Channel*****)

The sequel also drew the most kids of any telecast ever on broadcast or cable, with 6.1 million, and stands as TV's second-most-watched entertainment telecast with tweens 9-14, behind the 2004 Super Bowl.

The musical comedy, which ran from 8 p.m.-10 p.m. on the non-ad-supported network, beat out by 8% cable's previous record-holder with total viewers, a Sept. 23 Monday Night Football game on ESPN, which drew 16 million.

HSM2 was also TV's most-viewed Friday-night telecast in more than five years and ranks as cable's most-viewed original film ever, beating TNT's 2001 flick, Crossfire Trail, by about 2 million viewers, or 38%.  

While Disney had a built-in fan base for the movie after the enormous success of the original, the network helped to shore up even more interest by unrolling a slew of ancillary programming to promote HSM2, launching online games, streaming music, a docu-musical, a public-affairs program, mobile messages and a televised backyard barbecue hosted by the show's stars.  

The original High School Musical became not just a ratings blockbuster, but an international superstar for Disney after it premiered to a then-huge 7.73 million total viewers in January, spawning a soundtrack that topped both the Billboard Hot 200 album chart and iTunes for weeks. The movie also became the first full-length feature to be offered on iTunes and the stage adaptation was developed by Disney Theatrical Productions.

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