HD Ratings: Viewers Not Anti Norton

The Graham Norton Show roared back for a new season on Friday to help TV3 win the night in all the major demographics.

Sandwiched in-between The Block NZ and Kiwi comedies 7Days and Jono and Ben at Ten, it was the centrepiece of a three-hour block that saw TV2’s The Voice hit a season low.

The chat show, with guests Denzel Washington and new Doctor Who Peter Capaldi, averaged 6.1% – 8.7% of the key demos, off the back of similar ratings for The Block NZ and ahead of 7Days’ 6.7% – 8.1%.

The Voice had to settle for only 5.5% – 6.4%, although its first half did challenge The Block NZ to beat it in the 18-39 and 18-49 demos.

But it lost in all the key demos to Norton while the start of its HD re-run of Bad Boys wasn’t good enough to top 7Days and Jono and Ben.

But TV2’s Saturday movies, The Incredibles and Limitless, dominated free-to-air viewing, while late-night re-runs of The Reader and Taking Woodstock were competitive for TV One and TV3.

Woodstock had the stronger lead-in, with Blue Bloods’ averaging 1.9% – 2.6% against Happy Hour’s 0.6% – 1.3%; even in the 5+ demo, which is normally the godsend for TV One shows, the variety hour drew only 1.3%.

Earlier, TV One’s Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook averaged  9.1% of 5+ viewers but only 3.4% – 4.0% of the other key demos, although this was enough to largely win its slot.