Judging by recent ratings of MTV’s reality show “The Hills,” Lauren Conrad is getting the last laugh.
Conrad, who had been the focus of the series since its debut in 2006, apparently took a good chunk of its audience with her when she left the show earlier this year.
Her replacement as star of “The Hills,” Kristin Cavallari, who constantly bested Conrad when both of them were high-school romantic rivals on MTV’s “Laguna Beach,” isn’t the ratings draw MTV hoped she would be.
Viewership for the season premiere on Sept. 29 were down 30 percent from the previous season premiere last April, to 2.36 million total viewers, according to Nielsen’s live-plus-same-day ratings.
MTV pointed out then that the show was still the highest-rated cable show in the channel’s target audience, viewers 12-34, as well as the highest-rated program on television in its timeslot in that demographic.
But since then ratings have fallen some more, tumbling to 1.72 million viewers for the season’s third episode last Tuesday.
That episode, which aired at 10 p.m., averaged 1.06 million adults 18-34, the demo "Hills" dominated during its first few seasons. That's less than half the 2.3 million who tuned in to the show at its peak two years ago.
It's also down a third from what the show averaged last June, during its most recent season with Conrad, though it remains MTV's second-most-watched show in the key demo and still ranks in the top 15 on cable.
credit - medialifemagazine.com
