MTV's ‘Buckwild' Premiere Draws 2.5 Million Viewers

Falls short of ‘Jersey Shore' ratings, but beats ‘Snooki & JWoww' bow

By Andrea Morabito -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/4/2013 8:20:01 PM

The premiere of MTV's new unscripted series Buckwild averaged 2.5 million total viewers in back-to-back episodes Thursday night, according to Nielsen data.

The first episode at 10 p.m. drew 2.4 million total viewers, with the 10:30 p.m. installment ticking up to 2.6 million viewers.  In the key demos, Buckwild averaged a 1.3 rating with adults 18-49 and a 1.9 rating with persons 12-34.

Buckwild, which follows the adventures of a group of friends in backwoods West Virginia, has been pitched as a potential replacement for Jersey Shore, which had its swan song on MTV last month. While the premiere fell short of the 3.1 million viewers who tuned in to the Shore's December series finale, it did beat the 2.4 million premiere