NEW YORK – December 20, 2018 – Food Network will close out 2018 on a high note, with ratings on pace to finish up +4% vs. YAGO for L3 P25-54, +7% for Women 25-54 and +6% for Millennials; the network is also tracking to post its best December since 2011.  Time Spent Viewing (TSV) has also been on the rise with eleven consecutive months of increases, hitting a high of an average 94 minutes viewed per week.

Currently averaging a .53 rating for P25-54, December ratings are up +20% vs. last year with gains largely driven by holiday-themed programming including Holiday Baking Championship (+23%) and Christmas Cookie Challenge (+16%), both of which registered all-time series highs and are on track to propel Monday night to its highest-rated month in network history (currently +16%.)

For the quarter, the network is up +7%, making it the highest-rated Q4 since 2015, led by Holiday Baking Championship, as well as Halloween Wars and Halloween Baking Championship, with the latter two also notching all-time series highs in 2018.  Millennial viewers also enjoyed Holiday Baking Championship (+14%) as well as Halloween Baking Championship (+7%).

Food Network digital platforms had their best year ever in 2018, with an average monthly audience reach of over 200M globally.  Leading contributors included the best Thanksgiving on record for FoodNetwork.com and Food Network’s In The Kitchen app, with more than 385M page views and 80M visits respectively.

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FOOD NETWORK (www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers’ best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring, empowering and entertaining through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to nearly 100 million U.S. households and draws over 46 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine’s rate base has grown 13 times and is the No. 2 best-selling monthly magazine on the newsstand, with 13.5 million readers. Food Network is owned by Discovery, Inc., a global leader in real life entertainment spanning 220 countries and territories; the portfolio also includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, TLC, Investigation Discovery, and OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.