COMEDY CENTRAL PRODUCTIONS INKS FIRST-LOOK DEAL WITH DEREK WATERS, COVERING CONTENT FOR TV AND DIGITAL PLATFORMS
Comedy Central Renews Waters' Emmy(R) - Winning Drunk History for a Seventh Season
Hit Series Drunk History Averages Over 1 Million Total Viewers Throughout its Run on Comedy Central
NEW YORK, August 26, 2019 - Comedy Central and Derek Waters signed a first look all-media deal, with the #1 brand in comedy also picking up a 16-episode seventh season of Waters' Emmy(R) Award-winning series Drunk History, it was announced today by Sarah Babineau and Jonas Larsen, Co-Heads of Original Content, Comedy Central.
In partnership with Comedy Central Productions (CCP), a new studio-production arm partnering with comedy's best writers, producers and on-screen talent, Waters will develop compelling, premium comedy content for TV and digital platforms. Waters and his production company Be Nice or Leave joins an impressive roster of talent with first look deals for CCP, including Paulilu, the production company from Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs; Anthony King; Irony Point, the production company from Daniel Powell and Alex Bach; and Stuart Miller.
"Derek Waters has repeatedly proven his comedic genius as a creator, actor and director across multiple platforms through our hit Drunk History. That series merely scratches the surface of his creative output and we're so excited to develop even more projects with him through Comedy Central Productions," said Babineau and Larsen.
"I couldn't be more excited about this new relationship with Comedy Central. They took a chance on me and have been fantastic in supporting Drunk History over the past six seasons. I look forward to creating thoughtful, entertaining and hilarious programming," said Waters.
Emmy(R)-winning series Drunk History is nominated for three Emmy(R) Awards this year (Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, Derek Waters for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series and Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming). Through six seasons, the series has continued to break the mold and push boundaries with fun, new ways history can be learned. Drunk History has debuted 72 episodes, reaching an average audience of over 1 million total viewers for each new episode premiere (L+7). Including replays, more than 7.2 million minutes of Drunk History have been watched on Comedy Central. Created for television by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner, Drunk History is produced by Central Productions and executive produced by Waters and Konner, Greg Tuculescu along with Gary Sanchez Productions' Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Owen Burke. Monika Zielinska and Daniel Wolfberg are the Executives in Charge of Production for Comedy Central.
The #1 brand in comedy recorded a strong quarter of ratings growth for Q2 2019, driven by the brand's core, young male demos. Among M18-34, ratings jumped +12%, Comedy Central's biggest year-over-year growth in that demo since 2014. For P18-34, Comedy Central ratings increased +6%, the second straight quarter that the brand posted growth in the demo. It's the first time since 2014 that the brand grew ratings year over year in consecutive quarters. Driven by strong growth from primetime originals and late-night flagship The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Comedy Central also recorded its best quarter ever with 1.7 billion social streams, up +30% versus the same quarter last year.
In addition to ratings success, Comedy Central receives critical acclaim from its premium scripted series, late night programming, animated series, sketch-comedy series and docu-series, including South Park, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Lights Out with David Spade, South Side, Broad City, Drunk History, The Other Two, Corporate, Alternatino with Arturo Castro, The New Negroes with Baron Vaughn and Open Mike Eagle, Tosh.0 and The Jim Jefferies Show, among others.
Looking ahead, Comedy Central has a stacked slate that will feature new and returning series including scripted comedies Awkwafina and Robbie. Additionally, Comedy Central holds talent deals with Trevor Noah, Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, Jim Jefferies, Roy Wood Jr., Chris Distefano, Bill Burr and Al Madrigal, and Anthony Jeselnik.
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