Ratings debate over the premiere of the Real World Denver

Last week's episode of The Real World: Denver has come in with mixed reviews. While most of the reviews of the show weren't great (as usual), there was some surprising praise for the series as we reported to you yesterday.

But the ratings seem to be a point of debate amongst critics and supporters of the series. Variety is reporting that the ratings for this season of The Real World Denver is down 53% from last year's Key West premiere. However, Get Real Denver is reporting the number at around 8 million viewers, which is a huge increase.

The difference in numbers comes from looking at the numbers in its 1-hour premiere or 3-hour premiere. Over the 3 hours, more than 8 million people tuned in, but for the premiere itself, only a small number of people tuned in for that first hour. What is more impressive is that the Overdrive channel experienced an 82% increase in traffic after the episode aired as compared to the Key West season, so the show must be doing pretty well.