HD Ratings: And the Rose Goes to … MAFS

It was Married at First Sight Australia that came up smelling of roses after it went head-to-head with the season finale of The Bachelor NZ on Wednesday.

Three’s huge Aussie hit averaged 4.2% of the TVNZ 2’s target audience, 18-49 year-olds, compared to TVNZ 2’s homegrown hunk’s 2.4%.

And in Three’s 25-54 demo, MAFS averaged 4.6% vs its rival’s 2.9%.

There was a wide gap even in the 18-39 stakes: 3.1% vs 2.2%.

Only among the fourth major commercial demo, household shoppers with kids, did it narrow to 4.1% vs 3.7%.

The Bachelor was competitive in the 5+ race, when it averaged 3.6% of the country compared to MAFS’ 3.8%.

But in primetime, it’s the core commercial demos that matter the most, and in that respect MAFS has dominated Bachelor for its entire run.

MAFS’ popularity set up Three for the rest of the night, with lead-outs The Rookie and Newshub Late easily winning their slots in the 25-54 and 18-49 demos.

TVNZ 2’s Wellington Paranormal struggled with 2.6% of 25-54s and 1.9% of 18-49s, to level peg or finish third after TVNZ 1’s The Royals Revealed.

TVNZ 1 won the night’s biggest share of 25-54s while Three topped the 18-49 vote.

Three also won the night with 18-49s on Tuesday and split the 25-54 demo with TVNZ 1, once again due to the dominance of MAFS and its lead-outs, NCIS and Newshub Late.

TVNZ 1’s Dog Squad duo out-rated The Bachelor in the 25-54 demo and seesawed with it among 18-49s while TVNZ 2’s Have You Been Paying Attention? was competitive with Lap of Luxury and Border Security in both demos.