Far North Moves the Needle
August 16, 2023 
8 Comments
Three’s Monday night premiere of acclaimed Kiwi drama Far North out-rated the series it replaced but still lost to TVNZ 2’s The Rookie in the core commercial demographic.
The Temuera Morrison-Robyn Malcolm thriller drew 49,331 adults aged 25-54, to average a 2.40 rating/18.74 share.
That was 20,000 more viewers than 9-1-1 the previous week but The Rookie led with 59,568 (2.90 rating/18.32 share).
The US crime drama was up sharply week-on-week, from 15,885 viewers, because of a stronger lead-in from the season premiere of Taskmaster NZ and Prime’s viewership crashing because its new line-up of Designing Dreams, Night Court and American Auto couldn’t rival the previous week’s live FIFA coverage.
TVNZ 2 used to air Taskmaster on Wednesdays but has switched it to Mondays and Tuesdays to counteract Three’s The Traitors NZ.
The latter posted a big bump on Monday, when episode three drew its biggest audience yet: 77,181 viewers (3.76 rating/21.86 share), which was nearly 20,000 more week-on-week — and 14,000 more than Taskmaster (3.09 rating/63,432).
However, TVNZ 1 warhorse Fair Go still dominated the 25-54 demo, with 84,826 viewers (4.13 rating/24.85 share), while lead-out Border Patrol mustered 59,951 (2.92 rating/19.35 share).
FG was down 6,000 viewers week-on-week but BP took a bigger hit, shedding 10,000+.
TVNZ 1’s premiere of World’s Most Dangerous Roads drew 41,202 viewers (2.01 rating/14.94 share) to finish third at 8.30 but lead-out Inside the Superbrands won the 9.30 hour against TVNZ 2’s The Rookie: Feds and Three’s Newshub Late.
The night’s most-watched programmes in the 25-54 demo were: 1 News, Seven Sharp, Newshub Live at 6pm, The Chase (5.30), Fair Go, The Traitors NZ, The Project, Taskmaster NZ and Border Patrol.
The biggest free-to-air peak-hour demo shares were: TVNZ 1, 30.57; Three, 23.33; TVNZ 2, 16.26; Eden, 4.41; Duke, 3.95; Bravo, 3.87; Prime, 2.17; Rush, 1.32; HGTV, 0.06.
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August 16, 2023 at 11:25 am
I’m hearing rumours that WBD is set to axe 11.30 and AM Early, Philip, is this true?
The Herald has confirmed it Philip, both shows have been axed and will end next week. Disappointed it has come to this, WBD’s strong commitment to news they loudly proclaimed two years ago is gone and I can’t help but believe that it was the heavy losses this year that contributed to this decision.
Thanks for your updates, Leo, sorry I couldn’t respond quicker. WBD issued this release:
Newshub to cease production of AM Early and Newshub Live at 11.30AM,
Prioritise growth on digital platforms
Newshub has today announced that from 25th August, it will cease production of AM Early and Newshub Live at 11.30am on Three as it continues to prioritise growth and performance on its digital and social platforms.
Sarah Bristow, Senior Director of News, Newshub says: “With audiences increasingly turning to digital and social platforms to consume their news, the team at Newshub are laser focused on serving our journalism to these audiences, while maintaining our core broadcast offerings.
“Our talented colleagues who are currently contributing to the production of these shows will be broadening their focus within the newsroom to areas that concentrate on the growth and performance of digital and social.
“This is an opportunity to extend their skills from working on broadcast TV, into new formats of video content on digital and social, as well as upskilling in these areas that are crucial to the future success of our newsroom.”
I wonder if they are planning for a news channel for their FAST channels 🤔 It would be great to have a LIVE 24 hour news channel 😁
Cheers, Philip, for the reply. I thought these bulletins cost next to nothing to produce and already used the existing news infrastructure. How much are they actually going to save by axing the last two news bulletins left after their news expansion?
After all the cuts they’ve made from news, I highly doubt they would want to launch a news channel.
That’s true re the benefits of WBD’s news infrastructure, Leo, but the networks have become obsessed with digital because of the rise of streaming and the crash in linear viewership. While economies of scale are a given with WBD’s news operation, local production will always cost more than acquired content.
Fair points, I get the digital push which is needed but isn’t news outside of sports keeping broadcast alive. They could of utilised both and kept the on air strategy going but the bean counters have said otherwise.