"Jon & Kate" Ratings Record: 9.8 Million For Season Five Premiere

The tabloid attention to Jon and Kate Gosselin's troubled marriage drove a record audience Monday night to the season five premiere of TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8."

Broadcasting & Cable's Alex Weprin reports that the show drew its best ratings ever, averaging 9.8 million total viewers and 4.3 million viewers in the Women 18-49 demographic, and beating everything else on television Monday night. Further, the premiere delivered the highest ratings in TLC history in three demos (Women 18-34, Men 18-34, and Persons 18-34).

Read a summary of the premiere episode here.

Kate's sister-in-law Julie had urged viewers not to watch the show Monday night, suggesting that TLC would be stringing along the Gosselins' marriage drama in an effort to boost ratings:

They will only show what they think people want to see and it isn't real anyway. They will probably drag this out (J&K's 'relationship') for the entire season. They just string the viewers along hoping that they will come back for more."