HD Ratings: Games Spread the Wealth for TVNZ UPDATED*

Despite flak about its ad-crammed, free-to-air Commonwealth Games coverage being inferior to what Sky would have offered, viewership of TVNZ channels and streams have surged.

The broadcaster today reported over one million streams had been recorded while ratings for TVNZ 1 and Duke have, on some nights, risen sharply.

On Monday, for instance, TVNZ 1 posted extraordinary audience shares in the core commercial demographics of 21.7% – 28.9%.

But last night’s gains were more modest — 19.5% – 22.4% — and the network didn’t win any of the key demos.

Even so, its 25-54 target audience was still markedly higher week-on-week, with games coverage easily out-rating The Wall, Murder Uncovered and 20/20.

Duke’s fortunes have also fluctuated, improving on some regular programming in the 18-39 demo but not all, although ratings have been up later in the night.

Essentially, the popularity of the games coverage has depended on the events being telecast and the competition.

For instance, on Friday night, TVNZ 2’s HD broadcast of the 32-year-old movie ‘Crocodile’ Dundee topped all the core demos with astonishing averages of 3.8% – 5.9% and audience shares of 21.6% – 25.0%.

And last night TVNZ 2’s combo of Toddlers Make You Laugh Out Loud and Iron Man 2 dominated in all the key demos.

But on Sunday the final of TVNZ 2’s Australian Spartan and Three’s premiere of Kung Fu Panda 3 were no match for the games, except in the 18-39 race where the former had the edge.

Three’s premiere of Eddie the Eagle on Saturday was more competitive, averaging 3.1% of the channel’s 24-54 demo, which trailed TVNZ 2’s Cinderella but seesawed with the games — although that night it was the rugby league on Sky Sport 2 for which the crowd went wild: it averaged a 25-54 rating of 4.7%.

* TVNZ Sales issued this press release on Thursday morning:

2018 COMMONWEALTH GAMES UPDATE

Millions of New Zealanders have tuned into TVNZ over the last 7 days for 2018 Commonwealth Games coverage. Some highlights below include:

1.6 million New Zealanders tuned in on day one

A huge number of New Zealanders are getting behind our Commonwealth Games team and cheering them on from across the ditch. Over 1.6 million viewers tuned in to TVNZ’s Games channels on day one (1,609,806 viewers)*. Another 35,502 streamed events via tvnz.co.nz.* Over half a million were there to watch our first medal wins in the cycling (510,900).*

New Zealanders spent their weekends cheering on our athletes

Over 1.4 million viewers tuned in to TVNZ’s Games channels on Saturday (1,492,400)*. On Sunday this increased to a huge 1.7 million viewers (1,707,400).*

New Zealanders aren’t only turning on the telly… they’re watching online as well. From the Opening Ceremony and across the first four days of competition, 625,000 live streams were recorded with a total of 14.7 million viewing minutes.*

A prime time medal haul

The Gold Coast lived up to its name for the Kiwis on Monday night, with four gold medals and two silvers earnt in an action-packed evening.

TVNZ 1’s prime time programming reached 1,450,800 viewers (6pm – 10.30pm), with New Zealanders eager to find out which of our athletes would be adding to the medal tally.

Kiwis stayed up past their bed time to see Holly Robinson claim her medal in the F46 Javelin final, which reached 692,500 viewers on TVNZ 1. Tom Walsh’s Shot Put final also reached 572,200 viewers later in the evening.

Over a million streams recorded to date for TVNZ’s Games coverage

Since the Opening Ceremony, 1.1 million streams have been recorded for TVNZ’s Commonwealth Games coverage, resulting in a whopping 24.9 million streamed viewing minutes.*​

Making sense of TV ratings:

• Reach counts everyone who watched the programme for at least one minute – it’s the measure that captures the full scale of the audience.
• 5+ numbers capture the total audience watching.

TV Source: 1) Nielsen TAM. 1. Cume Reach 5+ TVNZ 1, TVNZ DUKE, TVNZ Games Extra 0600-2359. 2) Cume Reach 5+ 21.30-21.44 TVNZ 1, TVNZ DUKE, 23.00 – 23.29 TVNZ 1. 3). Nielsen TAM, Overnights, 5+ Saturday 7th April: TVNZ 1 9am-1am, TVNZ DUKE 6am-1am, TVNZ Games Extra 11.30am – 1am Sunday 8th April: TVNZ 1, 9am-1am, TVNZ DUKE 6am-1am, TVNZ Games Extra 9am -1am. 4) Nielsen TAM, Overnights Shot Put: 5+ Cume Reach 22.15-23.29 TVNZ 1 Women’s F46 Javelin: 5+ Cume Reach 21.00-21.44 TVNZ 1.