Criminal Minds premiered on Wednesday and achieved television ratings that broke the record of Bride of the Water God which recently recorded the highest first episode rating ever for a tvN drama this year. According to Nielsen Korea, Criminal Minds pulled off a nationwide audience share of 4.187 %, beating the record of Bride of the Water God by 0.53 percentage point.

Criminal Minds now holds the record of having premiered with the highest viewership rating* among eight tvN dramas that have been broadcast to date by the cable network in 2017. The drama’s first episode rating far exceeds the records achieved by the Monday-Tuesday dramas. Introverted Boss premiered with 2.967 %, The Liar and His Lover with 1.524 %, Circle with 2.883 %, and the currently airing Bride of the Water God with 3.660 %. Similarly, the records obtained by the weekend dramas pale in comparison with what Criminal Minds achieved. It beats out Tomorrow With You‘s 3.178 %, Chicago Typewriter‘s 2.649 %, and Secret Forest‘s 3.041 %.

Not only did Criminal Minds make a name for itself among tvN dramas, but it also surpassed the records of dramas from other cable networks as far as TV ratings are concerned. It now ranks first among all the cable dramas that have aired so far this year in terms of pilot episode rating. JTBC’s Man to Man and Strong Woman Do Bong Soon immediately follow the ranking with 4.055 % and 3.829 %, respectively. When it comes to ratings in the Seoul area, the drama also comes in first overall, becoming the first ever cable series this year to achieve a pilot episode rating above 5.0 %. Its 5.5 % record exceeds Man to Man‘s 4.8 % and Strong Woman Do Bong Soon‘s 4.0 %.

Criminal Minds is the first Wednesday-Thursday drama of cable network tvN in five years. It is a remake of the popular American TV series of the same name that started in 2005 and has been renewed recently for a 13th season. Like in the original, the Korean remake centers on a group of elite profilers who analyze the nation’s most dangerous serial killers and offenders to catch them in the shortest possible amount of time. The drama is able to have a successful premiere due to the extensive publicity beforehand and a star-studded cast led by Lee Joon-gi, Moon Chae-won, and Son Hyun-joo.

*Note: All viewership ratings mentioned in this article are based on data from Nielsen Korea.