NEW YORK — The History Channel has hit ratings gold with its new dramatic telling of the history of nordic peoples, the “Vikings.” 
Over two telecasts Sunday night, “Vikings” brought in 8.3 million total viewers, 3.4 million Adults 18-49 and 3.8 million Adults 25-54, making “Vikings” the #1 new cable series launch of the year among total viewers and Adults 25-54, execs at the History Channel reports.
“‘Vikings’is an incredible win for History – our first scripted series. We began this journey over six years ago, when we set sail to broaden the genre of History and now we are the only cable network to have achieved this amazing level of success in both nonfiction and scripted genres,” Nancy Dubuc, President, Entertainment and Media, A+E Networks said in an official statement. “People think they know the Vikings – but the reality is more complex. We knew our audience had an appetite for this unexpected storytelling and it was a big bet that paid off.”
“Vikings” airs Sundays at 10PM ET, tells the extraordinary tales of the lives and epic adventures of these warriors. The drama portrays the world of these Dark Age raiders, traders, explorers – not from an outsider’s view, but through the eyes of Viking society.
As viewers might expect,”Vikings” has its share of bloody warfare. Unfortunately, it does not have as much bloodshed as one might hope — mainly because it is meant to be a family story.
“Vikings” follows the adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok ( Travis Fimmel “The Beast,” “Baytown Outlaws”), a tenacious man scouting for new people to plunder. Ragnar has a hard time following the lead of his local chieftain, Earl Haraldson ( Gabriel Byrne “Usual Suspects), who is content with maintaining the status quo, namely raiding Eastern Europe and Russia. Ragnar wants to raid the civilized worlds of the Mediterranean.
Created and written by Michael Hirst – one of the premier historical story-tellers in the industry (Academy-Award winning film “Elizabeth;” and the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated series “The Tudors”), Michael serves as Executive Producer along with Morgan O’Sullivan of World 2000 (“The Count of Monte Cristo,” “The Tudors”), John Weber of Take 5 Productions (“The Tudors;” “The Borgias”), Sherry Marsh, Alan Gasmer, James Flynn, and Sheila Hockin. Dirk Hoogstra and Julian P. Hobbs are the Executives in Charge of Production for The History Channel.
“Vikings” is an international Irish/Canadian co-production being co-produced by World 2000 and Take 5 Productions. History will broadcast domestically in the U.S. MGM Television will bring ‘Vikings” to the global audience, serving as the international distributor outside of Ireland, Canada and the U.S. “Vikings” is produced in association with Shaw Media, and the series will air on History in Canada.