Criminal Justice: A Family Matter has emerged as JioHotstar's most-watched original series during the first half of 2025. The series has already amassed an estimated 20 Million viewers in India (who watched at least one complete episode), and is likely to cross the 25 Million mark by the end of its run (read our viewership estimation methodology here).

In an oversaturated genre of crime and suspense-based series, the success of Criminal Justice, not just in the current season but across its four seasons, has been remarkable. The franchise's audience engagement is reflected in its consistently-high OPR (Ormax Power Rating) across seasons, as seen in the chart below. OPR is a score on a scale of 0-100 that indicates how much a piece of content was liked by its viewers. In principle, it reflects audience engagement with the content, and predicts the conversion of initial sampling to final viewership for any title.

An OPR of 72 puts the current season in an elite club of just four Hindi OTT originals to cross the 70 mark this year, namely Panchayat S4 (80; still being tracked), Paatal Lok S2 (75), The Legend Of Hanuman S6 (75), and Criminal Justice: A Family Matter (72).

While the franchise factor is a common thread among these four shows, several franchise shows struggle to grow on their moderate OPR base set in the first season. Two of these four shows - Paatal Lok and Criminal Justice - belong to what we like to call the ACT (Action Crime Thriller) cluster. This overcrowded cluster continues to be the go-to content type for OTT platforms. Of the 159 fiction originals (series and direct-to-OTT films) launched on major pay or freemium OTT platforms since January 2024, a staggering 47% fall in the ACT cluster, while the remaining three clusters (with self-explanatory names) account for the rest, as seen in the chart below.

Even as several ACT shows crumble under the pressure of sameness in an over-saturated cluster, a few like Criminal Justice manage to stand out. Here are some learnings that can be drawn from the show's success.

Crime need not be dark

The early phase of OTT in India featured a wave of dark crime series. There are two kinds of 'dark' to consider. One is the cynical tone of a show, as reflected in its treatment (read this 2023 analysis for more). The second is the literal darkness of the show's color palette. Both these forms of 'darkness' limit a show's potential target audience base, by reducing the content's appeal among female audience as well as the more traditional TV-friendly older (35+ yrs.) audience. As a result, 'dark' ACT shows tend to primarily target 18-34 year old men with a specific sensibility. And while this may be the 'core target group' of OTT originals in India, it's not a universal audience, which big-ticket shows inevitably need to reach. The Family Man (Amazon Prime Video) is another strong example of an ACT show that avoids dark territory while remaining gritty and authentic.

In Criminal Justice, the strategic infusion of humor in each episode gives the show an ACT+ quality, adding elements from the Feel Good cluster, that make the show inclusive, even wholesome. At the heart of this tone is the show's immensely-likeable protagonist, Madhav Mishra, played by seasoned actor Pankaj Tripathi.

Character, not just plot

ACT shows often lean heavily on plot, in their attempt to be fast-paced, and to offer compelling cliffhangers, a genre expectation from this type of programming. However, character-centric storytelling creates a deeper emotional connection with the audiences, not only within a season but across multiple seasons. Whether it's Srikant Tiwari (The Family Man) or Madhav Mishra (Criminal Justice), characters who embody sincerity and competence inspire strong audience loyalty. This is a tried-and-testing formula from television, where characters, and not the plot, are essential for sustained success. And while ACT shows cannot afford to be too thin on the plot, Criminal Justice demonstrates that when plot and character work in tandem, immense viewership potential can be unlocked.

Imaginative sub-genre exploration

One of the unique strengths of the Criminal Justice franchise, especially S2 onwards, is its focus on courtroom drama as a specific ACT sub-genre. Notice that the cluster is called "ACT", not "ACTL", indicating that "legal" isn't typically considered part of this lucrative content category. Legal dramas like Guilty Minds, Your Honour, and Maamla Legal Hai usually fall under the Human Drama or the Feel Good clusters, depending on their narrative treatment. But Criminal Justice is a rare ACT show that fully embraces the legal sub-genre, effectively bridging the ACT cluster with elements of the other two. To that extent, it's more like ACT++, not merely ACT+. And this broadening of the genre base doesn't dilute the thrill element of the show (the "T" in ACT). This is why the show is more effective at appealing to a broader audience, much like the classic four-quadrant movie Hollywood studios often strive to create.

In summary

It's fair to question the over-saturation of ACT shows, but Criminal Justice: A Family Matter, and its previous seasons, have proven that it's possible to stand out in a crowded content cluster, by amplifying elements that are unique and specific. The upcoming Family Man S3 is likely to reinforce this argument further.