HD Ratings: Bridge Sinks to Season Low

TVNZ 1’s One Lane Bridge hit a season low on Sunday, when it averaged fewer than 2% of the core commercial demographics.

It drew just 1.8% of 25-54 year-olds, the network’s target audience, and 1.3% of 18-49s, to finish third behind the movies on TVNZ 2 and Three.

The Bourne Ultimatum averaged 2.6% / 1.7% of these demos vs 2.8% / 2.1% for Three’s free-to-air premiere of Equalizer 2.

The latter benefitted from a bigger lead-in, with The Block NZ averaging 5.7% / 4.3% compared to MasterChef Australia’s 4.6% / 3.2%.

The first hour of The Block lost to TVNZ 1’s Hyundai Country Calendar (10.8% / 8.1%) and the opening half-hour of Sunday (6.2% / 4.6%).

The popularity of these shows, on the back of huge ratings for 1 News at Six (13.1% / 9.4%), highlighted the weakness of One Lane Bridge’s viewership.

It opened with 2.2% of 25-54s — Sunday closed with 5.2% — and was down to 1.6% by the end of the hour.

While lead-out The Panthers is one of TVNZ OnDemand’s most streamed series, its overnight ratings remain dismal: 1.0% of 25-54s and 0.6% of 18-49s.

TVNZ 1 won the night with easily the biggest shares of the key demos while Three was well ahead of TVNZ 2.

TVNZ 1’s Saturday night dramas Anne Boleyn and It’s a Sin also rated woefully — the former averaged 0.5% of 25-54s, the latter 0.3% — on the back of a 2.1% lead-in from Bradley Walsh’s Late Night Guest List, a last-minute addition to the schedule to try to arrest audience decline.

Three dominated most of primetime with movies ET: The Extra-Terrestrial and Blockers., which helped it to win the night’s biggest share of 18-49s.

On Friday, TVNZ 1 dominated until 8.30, when TVNZ 2’s Have You Been Paying Attention? seesawed with Three’s Ocean’s Thirteen while 2’s 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown won the 9.30 hour.