“Lost” remains a huge hit for ABC, but the “The Nine” may not be.

The season premiere of “Lost” averaged a strong 7.5 adults 18-49 rating last night, according to Nielsen overnights, matching last spring’s finale average. But “The Nine,” the highly touted new drama leading out of “Lost” at 10 p.m., lost 38 percent of that lead-in for a 4.6 rating and finished second in its timeslot, behind CBS’s “CSI: NY.”

By comparison, last year the premiere of “Invasion” lost 29 percent of “Lost’s” audience in their season premieres. But “Invasion” dipped well below that as the season went on, and was canceled after one year.

“Lost” averaged 18.5 million total viewers and “Nine” averaged 11.96 million.

It’s too early to write off “Nine,” especially with the show making loads of critics’ top five lists for the new season. The show seemed to be very compatible in subject matter to “Lost,” both of them character-driven dramas, yet its 4.6 does not rank among the top five premieres for the new season.

It will be interesting to see in coming weeks if “Nine” can build its audience through buzz and promotion. The second half of the show dipped from a 4.9 to a 4.3, but all but two new hour-long shows this season have seen similar, and many steeper, drops.

ABC was still an easy winner on the night, averaging a 5.5 rating and 15 share in adults 18-49. CBS ranked second at 4.1/11, followed by Fox at 3.0/8, NBC at 2.2/6, the CW at 2.1/6 and Univision at 1.7/4.

At 8 p.m., ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” results show averaged a 4.4, followed by CBS’s “Jericho” at 3.4, Fox’s “Bones” and CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” at 2.7, Univision’s “La Fea Mas Bella” at 1.8, and NBC’s “Friday Night Lights” pilot rerun at 1.7.

At 9 p.m., “Lost” led at 7.5, followed by CBS’s “Criminal Minds” at 4.1, Fox’s “House” rerun at 3.3, NBC’s “Biggest Loser” at 2.9, Univision’s “Mundo de Fieras” at 1.7, and CW’s “One Tree Hill” at 1.4.

At 10 p.m., CBS’s “CSI: NY” led at 4.9, followed by “Nine” at 4.6, NBC’s “Kidnapped” at 2.0 and Univision’s “Don Francisco Presenta” at 1.6.

Among households, ABC also led at 10.1/16, followed by CBS at 8.9/14, Fox at 5.5/8, NBC at 3.9/6, CW at 2.9/4 and Univision at 2.1/3.