HD Ratings: Chasers Unbeaten, Head High Flunks

TVNZ 1’s Sunday night premiere of Beat the Chasers crushed the competition, including Three’s premiere of local drama Head High.

The game show spin-off was tops in all the core commercial demographics except household shoppers with children, who opted for TVNZ 2’s movie London Has Fallen.

Chasers averaged an astounding 7.4% of TVNZ 1’s key demo, 25-54 year-olds, which was roughly double the viewership of the previous week’s The Luminaries, and 11.4% of viewers aged 5+.

It did so off the back of stonking 25-54 averages for Sunday (8.5%), Hyundai Country Calendar (9.9%) and 1 News (11.3%).

Chasers’ popularity left Head High struggling to draw viewers. While competitive with London Has Fallen, it could muster just 2.5% of 25-54s.

The launch also wasn’t helped by lead-in Big Brother Australia finishing behind TVNZ 2’s premiere of MasterChef Australia: Back to Win in all the core demos.

The biggest gap between the two was among HHS/k, where the latter averaged 6.4% and the former 2.8%.

Only one-tenth of a point separated them in the 18-49 and 18-39 demos where the 25-54 difference was nearly a point.

Here are Sunday’s most-watched primetime programmes on the free-to-air HD channels (excluding +1 and in order of their 5+ rating and audience share):