'Heroes' welcome in Spain

Series scores record ratings for Sci Fi, Telemadrid

By JOHN HOPEWELL

'Heroes'

MADRID — Echoing its success in the U.K., NBC-Universal's "Heroes" has clocked up the best bow ever for Spain's eight month old Sci Fi Channel and the best debut of the season for regional channel Telemadrid.

First aired Thursday Feb. 1 in primetime, "Heroes" built auds from 80,000 to 98,000 to 118,000 to 135,000 in its fourth week. Viewership has made it the most seen show of the day on Digital Plus, Spain's biggest satellite TV operator, snagging a 16% share of Digital Plus auds with its last emission, said a spokeswoman for Spain's Sci Fi Channel.

"Heroes"' primetime bow on terrestrial pubcaster Telemadrid last Thursday chalked up a 15.5% share, way above Telemadrid's channel average of 10.9% for February, and besting "Grey's Anatomy" (14.8%) on startup web Cuatro and "Prison Break" (6.6%) on another new net, La Sexta.

The U.S. hit has rolled off muscular marketing and above all strong word-of-mouth, which kicked in even before the series launched on Spanish pay-TV, thanks to P2Ping in Spain.

The future for "Heroes" looks even brighter.

"With good-word-of-mouth, 'Heroes' has large growth potential on Telemadrid. Its Sci Fi Channel debut has also been very strong," said Eduardo Garcia Matilla, prexy of audience research company Corporacion Multimedia.