‘Real Housewives of Atlanta’ Has Biggest Bravo Debut Ever As It Kicks Off Season 7

Variety.com:

Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta” came back strong Sunday, racking up the best numbers ever for a season premiere on the network.

Nielsen estimates that the seventh-season bow of “Real Housewives of Atlanta” averaged a 1.8 rating/5 share in adults 18-49 (about 2.2 million in this age group) and 3.83 million viewers overall in the 8 o’clock hour. “RHOA” was up more than 20% vs. its year-ago premiere in both 18-49 and total viewers.

In adults 18-49, it topped all of cable for the 8 o’clock hour and also beat out CBS’ “Madam Secretary” (1.4/4). And in women 18-49, its 2.8 rating/7 share put it second among all non-sports programs on television, behind only ABC’s “Once Upon a Time” (3.2/8).

Before Sunday’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta” premiere, the “RH of New Jersey” season 3 premiere in May 2011 was Bravo’s highest-rated premiere among adults 18-49 (with 2.02 million); and the “RH of Atlanta” season 5 premiere was the most-watched premiere among total viewers (3.23 million).

“The Real Housewives of Atlanta” also stood as the No. 1 most social reality program on Sunday night with 171,000 tweets. This marked Bravo’s most social season premiere since Nielsen SocialGuide began tracking social activity in October 2011.

And somewhere Kim Zolciak is reading this and totally smirking.

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