No surprise: PPT season 2 DELAYED

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A poker show on GSN gets at most 200,000 households on average.

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From Mediaweek:

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Season two of High Stakes Poker has raised its delivery of the 18-34 demo by 77 percent versus season one. The most recent episode measured by Nielsen, which ran July 31 at 9:00, averaged 353,000 total viewers.

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353,000 viewers age 2+ would equate to around 250000 to 300000 households for High Stakes Poker Season 2. I stand corrected.

The "less than 200,000 households" figure was from Season 1.

Also keep in mind that "Season 2" aired during the summer, when there is minimal competition from the broadcast networks. That wasn't the case with "Season 1" which aired during the winter against the heavy artillery put up by the broadcast networks, including all those "stunts" during February sweeps.

If GSN were smart, then it would "split up Season 3" into two difference series: one batch to air in March-April, and a second batch to air in June-September.

Airing first-run poker during the November, February, and May sweeps has proven to be a bad idea (you can ask ESPN about the ratings bath it look by delaying the 2005 main event final table until last November). Poker is a niche product that just can't stand the heat during sweeps months.