HD Ratings: Walsh & Son Tops Popstars

The Bradley Walsh phenomenon continues, with season three of Breaking Dad walloping the competition on Wednesday.

Popstars was the biggest casualty, averaging only 2.6% of the 25-54 demograhic and 1.6% of 18-49s vs Walsh & Son’s 5.2% and 4.0%.

Three’s Bay Patrol also took a hit, but finished well ahead of Popstars with 3.5% of 25-54s and 2.6% of 18-49s.

Tellingly, Popstars opened with 2.6% of 18-49s, compared to 2.4% for Bay Patrol, but the latter extended this to 2.7% whereas the former shed more than a point, to 1.4%, by the halfway mark and finished the hour on 1.3%.

Three rebounded with Bondi Rescue at 8.00, which averaged 4.1% of 25-54s and 3.1% of 18-49s — which set up lead-outs The Rookie and Hawaii Five-O to win their slots in both of the key commercial demos.

The lead-in weakness of Popstars was bad news for Patriots Brains, which averaged only 1.6% of 18-49s, the network’s core demo, and 2.0% of 25-54s — roughly half the viewership of The Rookie.

PB lead-out, Starstruck, for which TVNZ 2 abruptly ditched Would I Lie to You? to fast-track from the UK, debuted with a disastrous 0.6% of 18-49s and 25-54s opposite H5O’s 2.3%.

TVNZ 1’s line-up fared better, with The Million Pound Cube averaging 3.5% of 25-54s, Secrets of the Driving Test 2.6% and Coronation Street 1.5%.

The popularity of The Chase, 1 News at 6pm and Seven Sharp meant TVNZ 1 still won the night easily in the 25-54 and 18-49 demos while Three finished 10 points ahead of TVNZ 2 in both.