HD Ratings: New Life in Walking Dead

TV2’s super fun Monday comedy block strategy is giving fans of The Walking Dead the last laugh.

On its new night, after two hours of HD sitcoms, the zombie drama at last is turning into the hit it has been in the US for the past couple of seasons.

Indeed, a series that was on its last legs after being relegated to post-10.30 is now paying dividends for programmers’ perseverance, and is a case study of how environmental factors and same-day-as-the-US transmission can be a show’s salvation.

This week’s episode averaged 5.8% – 8.8% of the major demographics to capture channel shares of up to 33% for TV2.

HD rival The Following, which, ironically, is creatively much stronger this season than last, could average only 1.2% – 2.6% while TV3’s network movie premiere of This Means War was almost as defenceless, with ratings of 3.8% – 4.7%.

TV3’s movie slot is suffering from a weaker post-The Block lead-in – Road Cops (5.8% – 7.1%) and The GC (5.0% – 6.6%) – facing tougher competition from TV One at 7.30, where MasterChef NZ averaged 6.6% – 10.8% on Monday.

The cooking show’s popularity is maintaining Person of Interest’s appeal (4.1% – 7.7%) among older demos and household shoppers in the face of TV2’s Super Fun Night (8.8% – 15.5%) and an improving Brooklyn Nine-Nine (6.8% – 10.5%).

They were set up to win by TV2’s top-rating troika of Shortland Street (16.9% – 23.1%), The Middle (10.8% – 14.5%) and Trophy Wife (10.0% – 14.6%).

Monday’s peak-hour HD channel ratings and shares were:

• Adults 18-49: TV One, 6.3 rating/20.7 share; TV2, 9.3 rating/30.4 share; TV3, 6.3 rating/20.7 share
• Adults 18-39: TV One, 5.3 rating/18.5 share; TV2, 9.2 rating/32.0 share; TV3, 6.9 rating/21.3 share
• Adults 25-54: TV One, 7.7 rating/23.5 share; TV2, 8.6 rating/26.2 share; TV3, 6.9 rating/21.1 share
• HHS: TV One, 8.0 rating/22.1 share; TV2, 12.5 rating/34.4 share; TV3, 6.8 rating/18.9 share.