PBS Draws 7.9M Viewers for 'Downton Abbey' Season Three Premiere

Improves 32% over series' season finale last year

By Tim Baysinger -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/7/2013 3:39:25 PM

PBS' Downton Abbey drew 7.9 million viewers for its third season premiere Sunday, a 32% bump from where the popular period drama left off last year (5.4 million for its Feb. 19, 2012 finale).

The 9 p.m. premiere also recorded a 5.1 HH rating, quadrupling the average PBS primetime rating and nearly doubling its second season ratings.

The highest local-market ratings were at stations KCTS-Seattle (9.6 rating, 17 share), WGBH-Boston (8.8/14), KLRU-Austin (8.1/13) and WNET-New York (8.0/12).