HD Ratings: MKR Makes Its Mark

Dishing up an extra episode of MKR: The Rivals sharply boosted TVNZ 2’s 18-49 and 25-54 viewership on Monday.

This week the network doubled down on the struggling cooking contest by stripping more episodes across the week and double-billing two on Monday nights.

This week’s second episode averaged 3.7% of TVNZ 2’s core audience, 18-49 year-olds, compared to 2.8% for One Born every Minute Australia in the same slot the previous week.

In the key 25-54 demographic, MKR lifted the slot’s average from 3.4% to 5.1%. And among household shoppers with kids, it leapt nearly two rating points, from 5.8% to 7.7%.

TVNZ 1’s decision to broadcast Bodyguard two years after its Netflix debut also is paying off in the 25-54 demo.

Monday’s episode average 4.4% versus 4.0% for the premiere, although it still finished third behind MKR and Three’s overlap of Lego Masters and The Rookie.

Bodyguard’s appeal, however, couldn’t rescue Q+A, which averaged only 1.5% of the network’s core demo — hence TVNZ’s decision to dump it from primetime.

In a tightly contested night, TVNZ 1 won the biggest shares of 25-54 and 18-49 year-olds, Three dominated the 18-39 demo and TVNZ 2 was tops with HHS/k.

Here are Monday’s 20 most-watched primetime programmes on the free-to-air HD channels (excluding +1 and in order of their 5+ rating and audience share):