Syfy’s Sharknado sequel scored great (white) ratings on Wednesday, with 3.9 million viewers catching the premiere showing of the implausible comedy-action movie. The audience for Sharknado 2: The Second One (yes, that really was the title) was 183 percent bigger than the original, which drew a gazillion tweets but a relatively modest 1.4 million viewers in its initial telecast last July. Part deux did particularly well among the demographically desirable group of viewers under 50, scoring a 1.3 rating — tripling the meager 0.4 rating for the first movie. That demo rating was higher than the tune-in for last night’s episode of CBS’ Halle Berry drama Extant or Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance. Not surprising, Sharknado 2 was huge on Twitter: Syfy estimates the movie generated 1 billion impressions on the social-media network (although it didn’t say how it will make any money off of said impressions).
While we told you yesterday that Syfy would end up a winner no matter how its Sharknado sequel did in the ratings, these numbers mean the network’s victory can safely be described as a triumph. (Of course, keeping things in perspective, a Tuesday rerun of NCIS on CBS drew twice as many viewers as Sharknado 2, so we’ll record it as a modest triumph.) Syfy will re-air Sharknado 2 this Saturday and Sunday; another sequel is already in the works for next summer.