HD Ratings: Apprentice Runner-Up to Emergency

Apprentice Aotearoa winner Vanessa Goodson.

Not even the winner’s dramatic revelation could turn the season final of The Apprentice Aotearoa into a ratings hit in the core commercial demographics on Tuesday.

It averaged 2.4% of TVNZ 1’s target audience, 25-54 year-olds, and 2.0% of the next key demo, 18-49s.

While the 25-54 viewership was steady over the hour, opening with 2.5% and peaking at 2.6% in the final quarter hour, Three’s time-slot rival Emergency topped it with 2.7%.

And in the 18-49 race, the Australian reality hour averaged 2.3%.

That was well ahead of TVNZ 2’s drama dud, Amazon Grace, which averaged 1.8% and 1.2% respectively.

Emergency’s popularity helped lead-out NCIS: Los Angeles to crush TVNZ 2’s Grey’s Anatomy in both core demos while TVNZ 1’s Coronation Street was competitive in second place.

Three’s The Block NZ won the 7.30 hour against TVNZ 2’s MasterChef Australia while TVNZ 1’s Eat Well for Less? finished third.

And at 7.00, TVNZ 2’s Shortland Street trailed both TVNZ 1’s Seven Sharp and Three’s The Project in the 25-54 demo and level-pegged with The Project for 18-49 honours.

TVNZ 1 won the night’s biggest key demo shares but was only 3-4 points ahead of Three.

On Monday, Three won the night in the 18-49 demo, with 9-1-1 and 9-1-1: Lone Star dominating from 8.30-10.30 (TVNZ 1 still led the night in 25-54s).

It was also a strong night for The Project, which was only four-tenths of a 25-54 rating point behind Seven Sharp and, along with neck-and-neck rival Shortland Street, beat it in the 18-49 demo.

The race between 7.30 time-slot winner MasterChef and The Block was tight, with only one-tenth of an 18-49 point separating them.

At 8.30, the penultimate episode of Apprentice averaged 2.0% / 1.1% of the 25-54 and 18-49 demos to finish a distant third behind 9-1-1 and TVNZ 2’s Wife Swap Australia (2.8% / 2.4%) while Maori TV’s premiere of Ake Ake Ake averaged 0.2% / 0.1%.