NCIS: Sydney scores CBS’s most-watched series premiere on Paramount+

The debut of NCIS: Sydney has set a new streaming record for overseas and local audiences on Paramount+. See why Aussies are loving the new naval crime spinoff.

Chief of the Royal Australian Navy Vice Admiral Mark Hammond at the The Indo Pacific International Maritime Exposition in Sydney. Picture: David Gray / AFP

CBS is finding success in taking its NCIS franchise Down Under with the naval crime show becoming the most-watched series premiere ever on Paramount+.

Since the Australia-based spinoff’s debut on the network on November 14, nearly 10 million viewers have caught a glimpse of the series either on the network or on the streamer, which almost doubles the already impressive 5.64 million live same-day viewers.

Based on three days of viewing, NCIS: Sydney has become the most-streamed CBS network premiere ever on Paramount+, according to Paramount Global.

The series also seems to be popular among Aussies, becoming the most-watched local series since the launch of Paramount+ in Australia.

Todd Lasance as AFP Liaison Officer Sergeant Jim 'JD' Dempsey and Olivia Swann as NCIS Special Agent Captain Michelle Mackey. Picture: Paramount+

“We are absolutely delighted that audiences locally and internationally have embraced NCIS: Sydney with its stellar cast and compelling storytelling,” Chief Content Officer and Head of Paramount+ Australia Beverley McGarvey said.

“We are so appreciative of the opportunity to utilise the world class NCIS brand to tell quintessentially Australian stories and it has been so productive to work closely with our colleagues at CBS and Paramount+.”

The creation of NCIS: Sydney marked the first time one of CBS Studios’ global drama franchises earned an international spinoff.

“We have a navy base where American ships dock all the time in the middle of the world’s largest harbour, which is set within the world’s largest island, which is set within the most contested patch of ocean on the planet,” NCIS Sydney creator Morgan O’Neill says.

“When you combine those three things, it surprises me that it hasn’t been done already.”

NCIS Sydney cast, Tuuli Narkle, Todd Lasance, Olivia Swann, Mavournee Hazel and Sean Sagar, in Sydney, today, ahead of the season launch party, which will be held on Friday. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

As it turned out, the Australian showrunner also had two more aces up his sleeve – one he knew about and one that was a secret even to him until last week’s Australian premiere.

The historic AUKUS deal for Australia to acquire a nuclear submarine fleet in partnership with the US gave O’Neill the perfect excuse to transplant members of the Naval Criminal Intelligence Service into Sydney Harbour in a “really plausible and really authentic” way.

But to “blow up the production value” of NCIS Sydney, O’Neill needed the seafaring might of the Royal Australian Navy – a favour that, as he discovered last week, could only have been helped by Chief of Navy Mark Hammond being a big fan of the original show.

At the Sydney launch, O’Neill said Hammond revealed he used to “binge-watch NCIS from the bottom of the South China Sea” as a submariner, knowing that his family were doing the same back home.

When American TV studio CBS decided to expand the NCIS universe beyond the US, Australia was the obvious choice. Picture: CBS Studios Inc.

It reminded the showrunner how the series was able to capture “lightning in a bottle” as both a military police procedural and a character-driven workplace comedy – a “secret sauce” O’Neill has sought to replicate with what he calls “a distinctively Australian twinkle”.

While NCIS Sydney – which also premiered in the US this week – retains the franchise’s politically agnostic style, O’Neill says he happily “jumped on the back” of AUKUS and tensions in the Indo-Pacific region to develop realistic storylines.

“In terms of a great piece of story, AUKUS was fantastic,” he says.

“These shows thrive by maximising as much authenticity as possible.”

NCIS Sydney launch with Sandra Sully, Angela Bishop and Chief of Navy Mark Hammond. Picture: Supplied

“It’s really not a show that targets countries and we had no real interest in doing that. That said, the Indo-Pacific is a real hotspot and there’s a whole bunch of geopolitical shouldering going on up there. We certainly lean into that – that’s sort of grist to our mill.”

O’Neill says the Royal Australian Navy was “enormously helpful in bringing their assets into our orbit,” showing off Sydney Harbour in a way he hopes will attract Australian and American viewers.

But he is also planning for NCIS Sydney to be “the gateway drug to NCIS Australia” given the extensive US military presence down under, from submarines docking in Western Australia to Marines training in the Northern Territory.

“If the show goes according to plan and we get a chance to do it again, we have a big storyline that’s already pencilled in for Darwin,” O’Neill says.