HD Ratings: Broadchurch Contest Spellbinding

TV One and TV3 battled it out for the 18-49 and 25-54 demos on Sunday when the final of Broadchurch went head-to-head with the network premiere of Snow White and the Huntsman.

The former helped to earned TV One a 25.8% share of 25-54 year-olds watching TV that night while Snow White drove TV3’s 24.5%.

TV3 won the night with 18-49 year-olds, scoring a 24.7% share ahead of TV One’s 23.7%.

TV2’s 18-49 share was 16.9% and its 25-54 share, 15.7%.

Broadchurch averaged 6.5% – 10.1% of the key demos and was most popular with 25-54s; Snow White averaged 5.6% – 9.3% and was tops with household shoppers with kids.

The British crime drama won the 8.30 hour and the revisionist fairy tale reigned from 9.30.

TV2’s Agents of SHIELD averaged 4.8% – 8.6%, to finished third and The Tomorrow People, 2.7% – 7.0%.

While the latter rated above 3.0% only with HHS/k, it was comfortably ahead of TV One’s Breathless (1.1% – 2.3%).

Earlier, TV2’s The Voice Australia (7.2% – 11.0%) again struggled against TV3’s House Rules (7.5% – 11.8%).

Sunday’s peak-hour HD channel ratings and shares were:

• A18-49: TV One, 7.5 rating/23.7 share; TV2, 5.4 rating/16.9 share; TV3, 7.9 rating/24.7 share
• A18-39: TV One, 6.7 rating/21.9 share; TV2, 5.4 rating/17.7 share; TV3, 7.3 rating/23.9 share
• A25-54: TV One, 8.9 rating/25.8 share; TV2, 5.4 rating/15.7 share; TV3, 8.5 rating/24.5 share
• HHS/k: TV One, 8.9 rating/21.8 share; TV2, 9.1 rating/22.2 share; TV3, 10.4 rating/25.5 share.

TV2’s movies dominated Saturday but TV3’s new crime combo started solidly, with SVU averaging 1.8% – 3.7% and Blue Bloods, 1.7% – 4.4%, suggesting the network should perhaps flip their playing order.

But the return of The Secret Lives of Dancers (1.9% – 2.2%) didn’t stand a chance against Hyundai Country Calendar (6.3% – 8.1%) and What a Girl Wants (5.2% – 7.1%).

TV2 also led on Friday, with The Voice Australia averaging 10.8% – 13.6% opposite House Rules’  5.3% – 10.2% and The Graham Norton Show’s 6.8% – 9.2%.

But Thursday’s two-hour episode of House Rules scored TV3 a rare win in the 8.30 hour.

It averaged 6.0% – 13.2% of the key demographics overall, and in the first hour was comprehensively beaten by TV2’s Police Ten-7 (11.6% – 15.8%) and Highway Patrol (9.5% – 13.2%).

But Rules’ second hour easily out-rated TV2’s Arrow (4.7% – 6.9%) and TV One’s Agent Anna (3.1% – 5.2%) and another re-run of Mrs Brown’s Boys (3.2% – 5.7%), which at last is starting to lose its lustre after being recycled too often for too long in the same slot.