HDTV Ratings: April 21-25

TV3’s HD newcomer, Drug Bust, made a clean sweep of the ratings last night, when it won the 8pm slot in all of they key demographics.

Ratings ranged from 13.6% of 18-49 and 25-54 year-olds to 14.9% of household shoppers with kids.

But the rest of the night was TV2’s, with dynamic HD duo Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters dominating their slots.

The popularity of TV One’s 8.30pm HD drama, Criminal Minds, nosedived, with ratings of 4.3%-8.9%, while TV3’s rival crime show, CSI, largely held its own.

But its stablemate, Californication, was down sharply on its season premiere, drawing fewer than 5% of the 18-49 and 25-54 demos and only 5.3% of HHS/kids.

The Easter Monday screening of Modern Family fared about the same as the sitcom’s Sunday ratings but with 18-49 and HHS/kids, scored higher than the previous week’s Campbell Live.

TV3’s free-to-air HD premiere of Slumdog Millionaire won its Sunday slot, except in the opening half-hour, where TV One’s MasterChef NZ was still tops, while HD lead-in Bee Movie was competitive with TV2’s Beverly Hills Chuhauhau.

After dismal ratings in its first two weeks, TV3’s ITM Fishing Show snared bigger ratings on Saturday night.

It still lost to Hyundai Country Calendar in the age demos but narrowly outrated it among HHS/kids.

But Bridget Jones’s Diary turned out to be too well thumbed, even in HD for the first time, and rated well behind the competition.

Yet Forrest Gump’s familiarity didn’t stop it winning TV One enough viewers to dent the appeal of TV3’s Friday HD staples, Glee and The Graham Norton Show.

Thursday again saw the ratings gap narrow between TV2’s No Ordinary Family and TV3’s Bones, with the latter winning the 25-54 and HHS/kids contests for the first time in weeks.