"The craze for crimes series"

Yuliya Sobakar
Mediametrie - Eurodata TV Worldwide
France

While currently the main trend in scripted formats appears to be family comedies, producers and broadcasters continue to put their trust in crime series, as explained by Yuliya Sobakar (Eurodata TV Worldwide) during the World Content Market. All over the world, long-running crime formats still remain strong ratings boosters in several countries 10 or 20 years after their creation, like the CSI franchise, but fortunately new productions remain creative and appeal to a wide audience.

In France, the hit crime series of year 2009 was without doubt “Braquo”, which aired on pay-TV channel Canal+ from 12 th of October. The series focuses on four cops operating in District 92 on the outskirts of Paris, whose lives change dramatically when their boss Rossi commits suicide after being accused of a crime he did not commit. The 8 episodes attracted on average more than 1.2 million viewers, when the channel average for Monday nights prime time was about 770 000 viewers. Last July, TNT launched “Dark Blue”, a series following Carter Shaw, the leader of a crack undercover team of LAPD police officers. The premiere achieved a 3.7% share when the channel's 2008 prime time share was only 2%.

In the USA, producers took advantage of the success of “NCIS”, a hit not only in the USA, but in several countries all over the world since 2003, to create a spin-off: “NCIS: Los Angeles”. By assuming false identities and utilizing the most advanced technology, the Office of Special Projects team put their lives on the line in the field to bring down their targets.

The first episode obtained excellent results, attracting more than 18.7 million viewers and a 15.5% share, when the CBS 2008 average prime time was only a 7.4% average share. “NCIS: Los Angeles” is the second CBS most watched series, just behind… its sister “NCIS”.

Overall, long-running crime series remain safe bets, such as in the United Kingdom which is still broadcasting New Tricks, “Holby City” or “Ashes to Ashes”. In Germany, “Tatort” and “Polizeiruf 110” are still ranked in the top of the charts, and a new version of the well-known format “Kommissar Rex” has been launched this Fall. So it seems that crime series know how to remain fresh and attractive to the audience!