HD Ratings: Long Live the King

TVNZ 1 and Three’s coverage of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral overnight Monday saw viewers in the core commercial demographics roughly split between the networks.

TVNZ 1 dominated initially, winning the early part of the evening with 1 News at 6pm, Seven Sharp and the first hour of the 1 News Special from 7.30-8.30.

But thereafter Three was more than competitive. From 8.30-2am, TVNZ 1 averaged 4.3% of 25-54 year olds vs 4.7% for Three; in the 18-49 demo, TVNZ 1 averaged 3.3% and Three 3.1%.

For much of the coverage, viewers switched back and forth. TVNZ 1 dominated with 18-49s for most of the night while Three had the lion’s share of 25-54s from 10.00.

TVNZ 2 struggled, with Celebrity Treasure Island averaging 2.3% of 25-54s and 2.0% of 18-49s, which was about half the viewership of the Queen’s funeral on either TVNZ 1 or Three, Renters 1.9%/1.3% and Australian Survivor 0.7%/0.4%.

In the peak demo race, TVNZ 1 had the night’s biggest shares – 39.0% of 25-54s and 37.8% of 18-49s vs Three’s 25.7% and 22.5%; TVNZ 2 scored only 8.5%/9.4%.

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