HD Ratings: Kiwis Still Wild About Wilderpeople

The popularity of Kiwi crowdpleaser Hunt for the Wilderpeople on Sunday wilted viewership of another local favourite, The Brokenwood Mysteries.

TVNZ’s re-run of the Taika Waititi hit won its slot in the four core commercial demographics but was most popular with the 25-54 viewers Prime targets with its Kiwi whodunit.

Wilderpeople averaged 5.6% of this demo compared to a season low of 0.8% for Brokenwood; the previous Sunday, Brokenwood averaged 1.3% of 25-54 vs 3.9% for TVNZ 2’s premiere of Kong: Skull Island.

In the key demos, Wilderpeople averaged 2.6% – 5.6% vs 1.5% – 3.9% for Kong.

Wilderpeople also crushed Three’s premiere of Pitch Perfect 3, which averaged 1.2% – 2.9% of the core demos, peaking with 25-54s.

Earlier, TVNZ 1 dominated with its newshour, Hyundai Country Calendar and Sunday winning their slots in the 25-54 and 18-49 races while the other key demos opted for TVNZ 2’s The Great Kiwi Bake Off (which topped Three’s The Block across the board).

TVNZ 2 won the night with the biggest shares of all the major demos except 25-54, which TVNZ 1 owned.

On Saturday, TVNZ 1 won with 25-54s and 18-49s, and TVNZ 2 with 18-39s and household shoppers with kids. Three’s Hugo was competitive with TVNZ 2’s Gremlins but the latter’s Ghosts of Girlfriends Past buried the competition.

The epic final of MasterChef Australia on Friday locked up all the key demos for TVNZ 1, with averages of 2.8% – 6.7%, collapsing viewership of Three’s The Graham Norton Show to mere averages of 1.6% – 2.9%. TVNZ 2’s 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown finished second with 2.1% – 3.7%.

But Three bounced back at 10.00, when the season premiere of Modern Family proved surprisingly competitive against TVNZ 1’s Coronation Street and TVNZ 2’s movie Fight Club, which went on to dominate its slot.

However, the blockbuster appeal of 1 News at 6pm and MasterChef delivered TVNZ 1 massive shares of all the core demos except 18-39, who stuck with TVNZ 2.