HD Ratings: Grease Was the Word

Three’s last-minute scheduling of Grease in the wake of Olivia Newton-John’s death proved to be a Friday night crowdpleaser.

It averaged 3.1% of the channel’s 25-54 viewership and while the opening half-hour lost to TVNZ 1’s The Repair Shop, which also averaged 3.1% for the hour, it dominated thereafter.

Grease’s first hour lost to TRS in the 18-49 stakes but the second hour was unbeatable.

Overall it averaged 2.1% of this core commercial demographic and easily out-rated TVNZ 2’s Have You Been Paying Attention? and TVNZ 1’s The Great Big Tiny Challenge.

The former averaged 2.8% of 25-54s and 2.2% of 18-49s and the latter 2.2%/1.3%.

In the 9.30 hour, Three’s Newshub Late averaged 1.6%/21.1% vs 1.4%/1.0% for TVNZ 1’s The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes and 0.7%/0.5% for TVNZ 2’s RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under.

The unassailable popularity of TVNZ 1’s evening line-up meant it still won the night’s biggest 25-54 and 18-49 shares but the race with Three was much tighter than normal for a Friday.

However, Three’s Thursday line-up was a bust, with The Love Hour, New Zealand Today, Comedians Giving Lectures and the documentary 25 Siblings & Me all trailing the competition.

TVNZ 2 dominated, with MasterChef Australia, Ten 7 Aotearoa, Highway Patrol and Filthy House SOS.

But warhorses like 1 News, Seven Sharp and Coronation Street ensured TVNZ 1 still won the night in the key demos, with TVNZ 2 close behind and Three a distant third.

Three’s The Block NZ: Redemption narrowly beat MasterChef to win the key demos on Wednesday while TVNZ 1’s Give Us a Clue finished third at 7.30.

TVNZ 2’s Taskmaster NZ was tops at 8.30 and Three’s Sort Your Life Out NZ finished behind TVNZ 1’s Location Location Location.

At 9.30, Bravo’s 911: Crisis Centre conquered the networks’ line-ups.

TVNZ 1 won the night’s biggest key demo shares while TVNZ 2 was second in the 18-49 stakes as was Three in the 25-54 contest.

Note: These overnight ratings exclude viewership of the networks’ +1 SD channels.