As Sarah Palin prepared to start a book tour Tuesday for her next best-seller, “America by Heart,” there was sobering news about one of her other products, a reality show called “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.”
Gilles Mingasson/TLC Sarah Palin on her reality series.In its first week, the series drew nearly five million viewers to TLC, the highest-rated premiere ever for that channel. But in its second week, the series suffered a steep ratings drop, to about three million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings released on Tuesday.
In the 18- to 49-year-old demographic, the audience for “Sarah Palin’s Alaska,” which is shown on Sundays at 9 p.m., dipped to 885,000, from 1.8 million the premiere week.
The first episode benefited from an aggressive marketing campaign. A TLC spokeswoman played down the ratings dip, saying “We are very happy with the ongoing strength of ‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska,’ and it continues to drive big ratings gains for TLC.”
Indeed, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” remains the most popular series on TLC. There are six more episodes scheduled of the Alaska adventure series.