New CSI Seasons Score High Ratings Abroad

The premieres of CSI, CSI: Miami, and CSI: New York all drew in high ratings in different countries around the world.

February and March are premiere months for many shows in foreign countries, and the CSI franchise is doing as well abroad, in some cases better, as it is in the United States. March and February may seem like odd premiere options but is a reasonable choice abroad, as some countries prefer to air entire seasons of many programs in one go. The premiere delay allows foreign CSI fans to enjoy the shows without having to sit through reruns.

One of these countries is Britain, where the premieres of CSI and New York aired last month via Channel Five. The shows did exceptionally well: "Blink", New York's series debut, was watched by 3.57 million viewers, while CSI's "Viva Las Vegas" was watched by 3.42. The third season of CSI: Miami has not premiered as of yet, but a rerun managed to draw in 2.93 million viewers. This made the shows the first, second, and third most watched Channel Five shows, respectively.

In Australia, trouble may be brewing ahead for all crime shows, as Channel 9 reports young audiences are turning away from such genre. Crime shows in general have shown a one-fifth decline in their general rating numbers from last year, particularly where men under 40 are concerned. "Younger men point to the early signs of rust. They are much more finicky. When they drop out of a show they're very hard to get back," David Castran, Australia's Audience Development managing director, told The Age. Nevertheless, the premieres of CSI and Miami came in 4th and 6th place, respectively, for the week.

In Germany, the television station RTL is taking over CSI: Miami from its subsidiary Vox in order to push up the show's ratings. This is a change of pace for RTL, as the station has turned away from fiction and towards reality television for the past few years. RTL will air Miami Tuesdays at 8:15 p.m. beginning April 19, while Vox has kept CSI and CSI: New York.

New York also recently premiered in Belgium via the VT4 network, and was watched by 122.000 viewers and received 16.9% of the share. The Czech Republic also saw the debut of New York this week.

The franchise is taking Dutch television by storm as well. The Viewers Research Foundation reported the premiere of CSI: New York was watched by 1.067 million people on the Dutch channel Yorin, which also premiered Miami with 934.000 viewers. Meanwhile, CSI's "Viva Las Vegas" was watched by 1.475 million on the network RTL. This makes the CSI franchise the most watched foreign shows in the Netherlands, and also means the percentage of Dutch people who watch CSI and New York is higher than the percentage of Americans who watch the shows.

Britain's Channel Five ratings report can be found here, while Australia's report can be found through Channel 9. Thanks to Al Forno for the Germany report!

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