A special on mermaids that aired on the Animal Planet drew in the network’s largest audience, also giving the network the No. 1 spot for the key demographic – viewers between the ages of 25 to 54.
Sunday’s special Mermaids: The New Evidence, which explores the possibility of mermaids existing, drew in 3.6 million viewers for the network and has spurred a phenomenon. Since its airing, 1.5 million streams of mermaid-related content have showed up across social media platforms.
“The phenomenon of Mermaids has truly been a watershed — and a watercooler — moment for Animal Planet,” Marjorie Kaplan, the network’s president, said in a statement, The NY Daily News reports.
However, the special, which is a follow-up to Mermaids: A Body Found, is being shrugged off by scientists, who say there’s no evidence to back up any of the findings. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said about last year’s special “No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found.”
Los Angeles Times notes that last year’s Mermaids: A Body Found drew in the most amount of viewers for Animal Planet since Steve Irwin’s death in 2006, so it’s no surprise they revisited the subject.
Both specials are known as hoaxes, which were meant to look like real documentaries of lost footage of mermaids in the Greenland Sea, but not real at all.