The season one finale of FX's hit drama series American Horror Story was the series' most-watched episode with 3.22 million Total Viewers, and it ranked as cable's top program (Live+Same Day) on Wednesday in delivery of Adults 18-49 (2.19 million), Adults 25-54 (1.9 million) and Adults 18-34 (1.25 million). Last night's episode will likely top 5 million total viewers inclusive of Live+7, as the series posted the highest percentage increase of DVR usage of any television in 2011.

In addition, Ryan Murphy, Co-Creator and Executive Producer of American Horror Story, announced today that AHS will be a seasonal anthology series going forward. Every future season of the show would feature a new story, new setting, new theme, and new cast members, while some actors from the previous season could return to the series playing entirely new characters.

On a weekly basis, inclusive of linear viewing, video-on-demand and online viewing, American Horror Story is averaging 8.6 million Total Viewers per episode (data through five weeks).

Currently, with nine weeks of Live+7 data from The Nielsen company, American Horror Story is averaging 4.4 million viewers, 3.3 million Adults 18-49 and 2.0 million Adults 18-34 on a first-run basis. It is the #1 new scripted series on basic cable this year in delivery of Adults 18-34 (2.0 million). It is currently tied with Falling Skies for the top new series in Adults 18-49 (3.3 million), but likely to be #1 outright when Live+7 data is available for the full season. AHS by far is the highest-rated first season of any series, topping Justified by 29% in Total Viewers, and Ryan Murphy's previous FX hit Nip/Tuck by 50% in Adults 18-49. The series premiere episode of American Horror Story, ranks as the #1 series premiere ever for the network among its target demos of Adults 18-49 (3.14 million) and Adults 18-34 (1.77 million).

American Horror Story was the only ad-supported cable series nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Drama Series, and Jessica Lange received Golden Globe Award and SAG Award nominations for her performance in the role of "Constance."