HD Ratings: The Lone Ranger Big on Horsepower

The Lone Ranger may have been a box office disaster for Disney but its network movie premiere romped home in the ratings for TV2.

It averaged 5.4% – 9.2% of the commercial demographics on Sunday and left the competition in the dust.

The Western movie got a running start from lead-in Shrek averaging a monstrous 6.8% – 10.8%.

Both movies won their slots across the board and restored TV2 as Sunday’s top gun network.

TV3’s MasterChef NZ semi-final averaged 4.6% – 6.3% to beat TV1’s Sunday in every key demo except 25-54 while its re-run of Percy Jackson’s Sea of Monsters netted 4.2% – 5.4% to out-rate TV1’s Winter (1.5% – 4.9%) and Ordinary Lies (0.4% – 2.9%).

TV2 won the night in each of the key demos while TV3 finished second in three of the four:

TV3’s network premiere of Epic on Saturday won its slot in two of the crucial demos — 18-39 and household shoppers with kids — and averaged 4.5% – 10.1% overall.

It improved TV3’s Saturday night ratings substantially and even the network’s umpteenth repeat of Happy Gilmore (2.0% – 4.6%) drew more viewers than the crime dramas it replaced.

The weakness of TV21’s movies, Bridge to Terabithia (3.5% – 7.2%) and The Green Hornet (2.0% – 3.8%) — helped TV1’s Hyundai Country Calendar and Outback Truckers to win in the 18-49 and 25-54 demos while even Coronation Street rated higher than normal.

While TV1 won the night in the 18-49 and 25-54, TV3 was more competitive than normal and dominated with HHS:

But TV2 sewed up Friday with the season final of The Voice Australia (7.4% – 12.4%), which won its slot outright, while on Thursday the network’s three-hour reality block was all conquering.