Tyler Perry worked some ratings magic again on Wednesday night for OWN.
One night after his new drama, “The Haves and the Have Nots,” set a network record for a series premiere, the debut of his comedy “Love Thy Neighbor” racked up similar numbers.
Nielsen estimates that the first episode of “Love Thy Neighbor” averaged 1.65 million viewers in the 9 o’clock half-hour, and a second at 9:30 rose to 1.8 million — making it the second highest-rated series launch to date on the network, which is now in its third year.
Tuesday’s premiere of “The Haves and the Have Nots” averaged 1.77 million viewers, and a second episode an hour later drew 1.82 million. They were the top-rated programs across all of television on the night (excluding sports) among African-American women.
In demos, both episodes of the drama averaged a 0.6 national rating in adults 18-49 and a 1.2 in the network’s target aud of women 25-54.
In the four weeks prior to this week’s series launches, OWN averaged 251,000 viewers in primetime, so the new shows this week represent audiences about seven times as big.
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“Love Thy Neighbor” is set at a family-run restaurant, where feisty family matriarch Hattie Mae Love (Patrice Lovely) has her hands full not only managing her customers but her family drama, too.
Quarter-to-date, OWN is up about 12% in total viewers vs. last year.