MUMBAI: US media conglomerate Viacom's cable channel for men Spike TV has announced that its first original action show Blade: The Series, which premiered a few nights ago, saw 2.5 million viewers tuning in. This is the highest premiere in its history for an original series. The show takes off from the vampire films Blade, which star Wesley Snipes.

Additionally Blade: The Series was the number one entertainment show for the night with men 18-34 and 18-49. It tallied triple-digit gains in all key male demos versus last year including up 517 per cent in M18-34 (2.6 rating, 680,000 viewers), up 472 per cent in M18-49 (2.2, 1.17 million), up 277 per cent in viewers (2.5 million), and up +247 oer cent in household rating (2.0, 1.8 million).