No lie — the return of “Pretty Little Liars” drew some pretty big numbers on Tuesday night.
The Season 5 premiere of the ABC Family drama at 8 p.m. was cable’s top-rated telecast for the night in the 18-49 demographic most important to advertisers, grabbing 1.4 million viewers in the demo for a 1.1 rating.
Also read: ‘Pretty Little Liars’ Reviews: Premiere Is ‘Delightfully Nuts’ And ‘Ridiculous’
The season premiere was also tops in a number of other demos in cable, including the 18-34 and women 18-49.
In total viewers, the season premiere, titled “EscApe From New York,” was the night’s top scripted telecast in cable, with 2.7 million viewers tuning in.
Versus last June’s “Pretty Little Liars” season premiere — which had 1.62 million demo viewers and 2.97 million total viewers — the Season 5 premiere was down. Compared to the winter/spring 2014 average for the series, however, the “Pretty Little Liars” premiere was up 13 percent in total viewers.
The series premiere of “Chasing Life” the following hour drew 672,00 viewers in the 18-49 demographic — up from the March 2013 premiere of “Twisted” but down slightly from last summer’s series premiere of “The Fosters.” In total viewers, “Chasing Life” had 1.35 million, down from the 1.61 million that the “Twisted” premiere drew, and essentially on par with the 1.42 million that the “Fosters” premiere drew.