Telemundo’s newest novela big hit with viewers

Can Telemundo’s newest narco-novela replicate the success of the network’s “La Reina del Sur?”

The Monday night premiere of Telemundo’s new original production “El Señor de los Cielos” showed a promising start. The 10pm novela averaged 2,346,000 total viewers and 1,437,000 adults 18-49, according to Nielsen.

“Señor” ranked as the network’s second highest rated premiere regardless of time period, right behind the smash hit “Reina,” which 2 years ago debuted with an average of 2.4 million viewers, delivering an average of 1,534,000 adults 18-49.

The co-production between Telemundo Studios and Caracol TV featuring novela stars Rafael Amaya, Ximena Herrera, Fernanda Castillo and Gabriel Porras,  delivered a 42% share of adults 18-49 and 40% share of total viewers among major Spanish language broadcast networks in its time period. The premiere reached a cumulative audience of nearly 3 million viewers, including 1,860,000 adults 18-49.

“El Señor de los Cielos'” premiere brought significant growth to the time period vs. the prior 4-week average, more than doubling its average audience among adults 18-49 (1.4million vs. 706K, +104%) and adults 18-34 (712K vs. 352K, +102%) and growing its total viewers by +88% (2.35 million vs. 1.25 million), while Univision’s “Que Bonito Amor” premiere declined by -22% in adults 18-49 (1,699,000 vs 2,176,000).

Locally, the novela’s premiere ranked #1 in San Francisco, New York and Miami among all Spanish-Language stations in adults 18-49, beating Univision in three of the top ten local markets.

According to Trendrr, “El Señor de los Cielos” was Telemundo’s strongest novela premiere ever on Social Media, out delivering Univision’s social media activity during the same time-period premiere by more than 74% (9,142 vs 4,201 social media engagements).