The 40th season of “The Challenge” starts with the best demo ratings in three years

EXCLUSIVE: The challenge had the best premiere ratings in three years with the debut of the 40th season.

The longest-running reality competition show on television earned a 0.49 rating among adults 18-49 for the episode that aired Wednesday night on MTV, according to live and same-day viewership data from Paramount Global. That’s a 49% increase from the 0.33 rating for Season 39.

The challenge The season 40 premiere also had a 4.0 share in the 18-49 demographic, which indicates the percentage of viewers watching that episode relative to all viewers watching television at that time. That’s a 103% increase over the 1.97 share for the season 39 premiere.

In the 18-34 age group, the episode’s ratings increased 96% compared to the previous season’s premiere, to 0.38 (compared to 0.19 in season 39).

The proportion of 18-34 year olds was 5.05, an impressive increase of 166% over the 1.9 share last season.

Overall, this represents the largest season-to-season ratings increase in over two decades, and MTV posted its best Wednesday primetime ratings in these key demos in six months.

In the social sector The challenge was the top social reality show on cable television on Wednesday night. The show’s social media pages garnered 2.1 million views (+141% vs. S39) and 129,000 interactions (+63% vs. S39) across nearly 30 posts.

This is a big season for The challenge, as some of the biggest names in franchise history return to go for gold.

This season features 40 legendary and fan-favorite challengers battling for their share of $1 million, including Kaycee Clark, Tori Deal, Johnny “Bananas” Devenanzio, Aneesa Ferreira, Brad Fiorenza, Leroy Garrett, Mark Long, Rachel Robinson, Cara Maria Sorbello, Laurel Stucky, CT Tamburello, Darrell Taylor, Devin Walker, Jenny West, Cory Wharton, Jordan Wiseley and more.