HD Ratings: Undateables Undermines 9-1-1

The return of The Undateables didn’t make TVNZ 2 unbeatable on Monday as TVNZ 1’s top-rating Tokyo Games run continued.

But it did top Three’s 9-1-1 in the core commercial demographics, averaging 4.1% of 25-54 year-olds and 3.6% of 18-49s — which was up sharply on the previous week’s Wife Swap (2.8% / 2.4%).

Week-on-week the season finale of the emergency services drama fell more than a point in the 25-54 demo, to 2.7%, and was down eight-tenths of a point to 2.2% of 18-49s.

However, at 7.30 Three’s The Block NZ did narrowly beat TVNZ 2’s MasterChef Australia in both key demos, although both were dwarfed by TVNZ 1’s Olympics coverage.

And at 7.00, TVNZ 1’s Seven Sharp easily led TVNZ 2’s Shortland Street and Three’s The Project, with roughly double the viewership: 7.3% of 25-54s and 5.5% of 18-49s.

TVNZ 1 won the night’s biggest key demo shares, with 33.4% of 25-54s vs TVNZ 2’s 16.1% and Three’s 15.1%.

Its was a similar story on Sunday, when Tokyo dominated most of the night, although the coverage was briefly challenged by The Block, which crushed MasterChef with a 2-3 point lead.

Three’s movie The Hitman’s Bodyguard was also more popular than TVNZ 2’s Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

Their movie fortunes were reversed on Saturday, when Three’s free-to-air premiere of Last Night flopped opposite dusty re-runs of Cool Runnings and Wild Wild West.

On Friday, Three’s re-run of The Lost World: Jurassic Park wiped out TVNZ 2’s light-ent line-up but couldn’t win against the games.