Syfy's Z Nation Bites off 1.6 Million Viewers During September 12th Premiere

NEW YORK – September 15, 2014 – Syfy’s new zombie series Z Nation bit 1.6 million total viewers during its Friday, September 12 premiere at 10PM (ET/PT), becoming the channel’s highest rated acquired scripted series premiere since Dr. Who in 2006.

The dynamic action-drama from The Asylum (producers of the Sharknado franchise) also chomped on 695K Adults 18-49 and 853K Adults 25-54.

Z Nation was #1 in the 10PM time period among total viewers, Adults 25-54, Men 25-54, Women 25-54 as well as #2 among Adults 18-49.

In the past week, more L+SD total viewers fell victim to Z Nation than the most recent telecasts of The Leftovers on HBO, Teen Wolf on MTV and Doctor Who on BBCA.

Z Nation was also Syfy’s most social acquired scripted series premiere ever across all social metrics (tweets, unique authors, and tweets per unique). For the night, Z Nation ranked as the #4 entertainment program in tweets in both broadcast and cable.

In Z Nation, three years have passed since the zombie virus has gutted the country, and a team of everyday heroes must transport the only known survivor of the plague from New York to California, where the last functioning viral lab waits for his blood. Although the antibodies he carries are the world’s last, best hope for a vaccine, he hides a dark secret that threatens them all. With humankind’s survival at stake, the ragtag band embarks on a journey of survival across three thousand miles of rusted-out post-apocalyptic America. Z Nation stars Harold Perrineau (Oz, Lost) Tom Everett Scott (Southland, Beauty and the Beast), DJ Qualls (Supernatural), Michael Welch (Twilight trilogy), Kellita Smith (The Bernie Mac Show) Anastasia Baranova (The Darkness II) as Addy, Russell Hodgkinson (Big Fish) as Doc and Keith Allan (Rise of the Zombies) as Murphy.

Karl Schaefer (Eerie Indiana, Eureka, The Dead Zone) serves as executive producer and showrunner. Acclaimed action director John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning) directed the pilot. The series is produced by The Asylum and sold internationally by Dynamic Television.

Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (SyfyVentures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in 96 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBCUniversal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. NBCUniversal is a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. (Syfy. Imagine Greater.)