HD Ratings: Briton’s Got Talent

TV3’s re-run of Johnny English proved to be effective counter-programming against NZ’s Got Talent on Sunday.

The TV One talent quest won the 7.30 hour but the Rowan Atkinson comedy was more than competitive.

It out-rated NZGT among adults 18-39 and 18-49, and the two were neck-and-neck with adults 25-54 – the demographic both channels target.

Overall, Talent averaged 6.0% – 10.0% and Johnny English, 6.2% – 7.4%.

The night’s biggest drawcard was TV2’s You Don’t Mess With the Zohran, which was at least three times as popular as TV3’s network HD premiere of Take Me Home Tonight (2.3% – 3.1%).

TV One’s excellent HD drama, A Place to Call Home, averaged 2.6% – 7.4%.

Ratings for TV3’s Saturday night cooking slot improved with the premiere of Fusion Feasts (2.0% – 4.9%) narrowly beating TV One’s NZ Story in the all the key demos except adults 18-39.

But this success wasn’t enough to stop low-rating lead-out Survivor from treading water (1.3% – 2.6%).

Similarly, TV2’s Friday night movie strategy is scarcely denting the popularity of TV3’s top-rating light-ent line-up: The Graham Norton Show (7.6% – 9.0%), 7 Days (9.4% – 10.1%) and Jono and Ben at Ten (7.5% – 8.6%).

But pairing re-runs The Middle and The Big Bang Theory is winning TV2 the 7.30 hour, with TV3’s The X Factor USA averaging roughly half as many viewers (4.0% – 5.0%).