HD Ratings: The Winners on the Night

TVNZ 1’s Sunday Theatre premiere of By the Balls dominated play in its first hour among 25-54 year-olds but then was outclassed by Three’s network movie premiere of Transformers: The Last Knight.

Balls averaged 4.3% of 25-54s, thanks to an unbeatable lead-in from Hyundai Country Calendar (8.5%) and Sunday (7.2%).

Despite Stuff arguing the documentary “fully deserves to find a large audience”, viewership of Balls in TVNZ 1’s core commercial demographic more than halved from 5.5% in its opening quarter-hour to 2.1% in its closing quarter-hour.

Transformers narrowly won with 18-49s (2.7%) but TVNZ 2’s Masterminds and Blade Runner 2049, which overlapped the competition, were the 18-39 favourites.

In the reality battle at 7.00, TVNZ 2’s Celebrity Treasure Island out-rated Three’s Married at First Sight NZ in all the key demos, with the race being tightest among 18-49s (3.9% vs 3.7%).

The popularity of TVNZ 1’s line-up saw it win the night with the biggest 25-54, 18-49 and household shopper shares while Three narrowly topped 18-39s.

On Saturday, Three’s America’s Got Talent out-rated TVNZ 1’s MasterChef Australia in the 18-49 and HHS demos, largely dominated with 25-54s, and seesawed with TVNZ 2’s Bridge to Terabithia.

TVNZ 1’s The Story of Rugby averaged 0.3%-1.9% of the key demos, behind TVNZ 2’s Troy (2.4% – 3.0%) and Three’s The Founder (1.2% – 1.5%).

MasterChef won its slot with 25-54s on Friday but lost to TVNZ 2’s Toddlers Make You Laugh Out Loud in the other core demos.

8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown dominated every key demo except 18-39.

Meanwhile, MediaWorks reports Wednesday’s premiere of Patrick Gower: On Weed won its slot in the 25-54 demo and was the top-rating programme of the year with this audience (41.2% share, 200,200 viewers).

It helped Three to win the night with a 29.5% share of 25-54s. Lead-in Grand Designs NZ had a 27.2% share (132,700 viewers) and lead-out Hawaii Five-O an 18% share (54,800 viewers).