The Listener Launches Internationally to High Ratings

LOS ANGELES: Fox International Channels (FIC) announced that its series, The Listener, debuted across 180 countries in Europe, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East and marked several new ratings records.  

FIC launched the series on a near-worldwide basis in the same week. The Listener finished first in its time slot in most of FIC’s territories, and built on its lead-in in all territories for which overnight ratings were available, including Italy, the U.K., Germany, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Argentina, Turkey, Greece, Japan and Hong Kong.

The series also increased audiences in its second half hour. In most cases The Listener doubled or tripled the average share of its specific time period. In Italy, which is one of FIC’s largest markets, it not only grew its timeslot’s average audience share by 470 percent, but was the second most watched show ever on Fox.  

The Listener, produced by Shaftesbury Films, is a drama series about a young paramedic who has the ability to read minds. Scheduled to air early this summer on NBC in the U.S. and on CTV in Canada, the show is distributed internationally by ShineReveille.

“The Listener is a global content project for FIC,” said Sharon Tal Yguado, the VP of Development at FIC and an executive producer on the series. “It’s exciting to see how international audiences are embracing the show so passionately. The launch results are impressive compared to any show. The fact that FIC delivered these numbers before a US premiere is a phenomenon.”  

“FIC put all of its marketing and PR muscle behind The Listener, and we’re delighted by the results.” said Hernan Lopez, the COO of FIC. “We’re confident we’ll see similar success with the upcoming series Mental, which we are launching globally later this year.”

“FIC took a risk on launching The Listener ahead of North America. But it paid off,” said Christina Jennings, the chairman and CEO of Shaftesbury Films. “It demonstrates that quality programming can succeed on the strength of the content and the marketing push behind it. We are delighted with the results and look forward to The Listener’s launch in North America.”