TV Ratings: ‘The Kardashians’ Still Going Strong in Season 8, ‘The Wanted Life’ Fizzles

The Kardashians’ TV empire remains resilient to ratings fatigue.

E! parent series Keeping Up With the Kardashians launched its eighth season Sunday night, averaging 3 million viewers over the course of the hour. That’s a 6 percent improvement from last summer’s opener and the most-watched premiere in three years. In the desired adults 18-49 demographic, the show averaged an equally impressive 2 million viewers.

PHOTOS: Inside Kardashian Inc.

Robust as the number might be, the lack of “event” tied to the reality series means that it failed to match the ratings highs achieved by the Kardashian clan’s well-documented milestones. Last season’s finale, which included self-administered baby delivery from Kourtney, brought in 3.6 million viewers. And 2011’s two-part Kim’s Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event brought in 4.4 million and 4 million viewers for both broadcasts.

But The Kardashians‘ numbers remain quite dependable for a show that first premiered back in 2007 — especially in light of the night’s other launch, The Wanted Life.

The unscripted effort about the British boy band averaged just 600,000 total viewers and 409,000 adults 18-49 in its inaugural 10 p.m. broadcast. That’s a massive 80 percent drop in total viewers from its lead-in and nearly half of the numbers pulled in by last summer’s comparable launch, Mrs. Eastwood & Company (1.1 million viewers).

For additional perspective, that’s also shy of April’s lackluster debut for What Would Ryan Lochte Do? That premiere scored a paltry 807,000 viewers during its first outing.

Across three telecasts, The Wanted Life did manage to average 1.7 million viewers over the course of the night.