HD Ratings: New Sitcoms Score But Scandal Crashes
January 14, 2014 
3 Comments
TV2’s new sitcoms Super Fun Night and Trophy Wife won their slots on the back of Shortland Street’s return on Monday.
But the channel’s bid to turn TV One bomb Scandal into a hit flopped opposite TV3’s HD re-run of Robin Hood.
Super Fun Night averaged 11.0% – 11.9% of the major demographics (adults 18-39, 18-49, 25-54, household shoppers with kids).
It was most popular with adults 18-49 and shed 25-54 viewers the most: it opened with 13.1% of this demo and ended with 10.4%.
Lead-out Trophy Wife averaged 8.0% – 9.6%; it was most popular with adults 18-49 and least watched by HHS.
While the comedies’ viewership declined over the hour, Scandal’s two-hour relaunch was decimated
The mid-season premiere averaged 3.3% – 4.4% and while it retained most of its HHS audience, other demos fled in droves to Robin Hood (it averaged 5.5% – 8.8% and easily dominated from 9pm-11pm).
So TV2 scored mixed results for its new-look Monday: the sitcoms performed strongly and as part of a two-hour comedy block from next week, should deliver better numbers than the aging Grey’s Anatomy did a year ago.
But after all the promotional work TVNZ has invested in Scandal, don’t expect this cursed series to be given much longer to perform.
The night’s biggest crowdpleaser was Shortland Street, the hour-long season premiere of which averaged 15.9% – 19.4%.
That was down slightly on last year’s season premiere, which averaged 17.8% – 19.4% and rated higher in the 18-39 and 25-54 demos.
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January 16, 2014 at 8:48 pm
Scandal never seems to catch a break, disappointed with it’s performance on TV2 but this is week 1 and it will be interesting to see if ratings lift or stabilise as the weeks progress. Philip: are these first-night numbers for Scandal better than the figures it was getting on TV One? I still feel Scandal could do with starting from the beginning for viewers who did not catch the TV One screenings.
On Scandal’s side is there’s only a handful of episodes left in season two, so the network will probably give it until then to develop an audience. But I see that as a remote hope at best as the show just doesn’t appeal to NZ viewers. While TVNZ put it on the wrong channel in the first place, it gave the series an unprecedented profile with two peak-hour slots a week and, for its resumption, gave it a top-rating springboard with Shortland Street and the new Monday comedies. Political dramas are tough to make work in this market. The West Wing was a notable exception but that was 10 years ago, when drama was more popular on free-to-air TV, and the series was more accessible than Scandal. Scandal’s TV2 debut was higher-rating than TV One’s (1.8% – 2.6% of key demos) but you’d expect that given TV2’s a more popular network in key demos other than 5+.
Thanks Philip for the info and yes one can only hope TV2 stick by Scandal until the conclusion of this season or we could see an earlier than expected return for Revenge to boost its 9.30 slot numbers. I must give credit to TVNZ for giving this show a go and not giving up after it`s performance on TV One although things aren’t looking good with week 2 ratings.