Armed (sorry, April) with social and marketing buzz, Syfy's schlock culture telefilm Sharknado 2: The Second One became the network's top original movie, averaging just under 4 million viewers in its debut and biting down on an estimated 10-figure's worth of Twitter impressions.
The sequel to last summer's Sharknado -- the second iteration transports its bad weather and ocean-faring monsters to the streets of New York from LA -- chomped down on 3.9 watchers during its 9 p.m. premiere on July 30, according to Nielsen data. That total included 1.6 million persons 18 to 49 and 1.8 million adults 25 to 54.
Sharknado2's audience outdelivered the 1.37 million who saw its predecessor's bow on July 11, 2013 by 183%, while topping its delivery with the 18-to-49 set by 190% and the older demo by 185%.
Last night's average audience also easily surpassed the 1.9 million and 2.4 million who tuned in Sharknado's second and third airings last summer. Figures for Sharknado's pair of encores last night were not available at presstime.
Meanwhile, Syfy officials said the telefilm -- starring Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, Vivica A. Fox, Mark McGrath, Kari Wuhrer and Judah Friedlander and featuring a cadre of celebrity cameos -- delivered an estimated 1 billion impressions for Sharknado Twitter conversations. At one point during Wednesday night’s bow, the top 10 trending topics on Twitter were all related to Sharknado 2.
Sharknado 2 was produced by The Asylum, directed by Anthony Ferrante, and penned by Thunder Levin.
