“Storage Wars Texas” delivers record number of viewers on A&E

America’s mind-boggling fascination with the self storage industry continued this week as an astounding 4.1 million people tuned into A&E Tuesday night for the premiere of Storage Wars Texas — making it the most watched series launch in the network’s history.

Even more impressive is that more than half of that audience fell into the 25-54 age group, which is also an A&E record and the coveted demographic that programmers seek to lure advertisers.

This series, which is a spin-off from the popular Storage Wars, focuses on four Dallas hunters who try to use their knowledge to bid on items being auctioned off in defaulted storage units. The lure of the show has always been whether the bidders will walk away with a goldmine or a pile of junk.

It didn’t take long yesterday for viewers to chime in on the comments section of a Channel Guide Magazine preview of Storage Wars Texas.

Some guy calling himself “Auction dude” wrote: “The reality is that these shows are entertaining! I love going out and buying items and reselling them. I own some nice things and make great money. These shows kind of hint at what is actually out there. It takes hard work.”

Viewer Bob Carter disagreed: “If Texas is your new cast, this viewer is out of here. Brandi [Passante] is Storage Wars … so get these Texans out [of] there…”

Regardless of where you fall in this debate, we all might want to brace for future spin-offs. With the records A&E set this week, it’s only a matter of time before the network is launching Storage Wars New York, Storage Wars Florida and Storage Wars Arizona. Cha-ching!

DID YOU KNOW? Less than 1% of self storage units end up in an auction situation. Exclusive interview with industry expert.