MTV’s ‘The Challenge’ Season 40 Premieres To Show’s Best Demo Ratings In 3 Years

EXCLUSIVE: The Challenge had its best premiere ratings in three years with the debut of Season 40.

Television’s longest-running reality competition show scored a 0.49 rating among adults 18 to 49 for the episode that aired Wednesday night on MTV, according to live+same-day audience data from Paramount Global. That’s up 49% versus the 0.33 rating for Season 39.

The Challenge Season 40 premiere also had a 4.0 share among the 18-to-49 demo, which indicates the percentage of people watching the episode out of all people watching television at that time. That’s a 103% boost over the 1.97 share for the Season 39 premiere.

Among the 18-to-34 crowd, the episode saw a 96% bump over the previous season premiere to a 0.38 rating (compared to 0.19 for Season 39).

The 18-to-34 share was 5.05, an impressive 166% lift over the 1.9 share managed last season.

Overall, this is the biggest season-to-season premiere ratings growth in more than two decades, helping MTV to score its best Wednesday primetime ratings in those key demos in six months.

On social, The Challenge was the top social reality cable show Wednesday night. The show’s social pages drove 2.1M views (+141% vs. S39) and 129,000 engagements (+63% vs. S39) across nearly 30 posts.

This is a big season for The Challenge, as some of the biggest names in the franchise’s history are returning to go for gold.

The season features 40 legendary fan-favorite Challengers who will compete for their share of $1 million, including  Kaycee Clark, Tori Deal, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Aneesa Ferreira, Brad Fiorenza, Leroy Garrett, Mark Long, Rachel Robinson, Cara Maria Sorbello, Laurel Stucky, CT Tamburello, Darrell Taylor, Devin Walker, Jenny West, Cory Wharton, Jordan Wiseley and more.