HDTV Ratings: August 24

Kiwi gangster spin-off Underbelly NZ: Land of the Long Green Cloud took a hit last night when HD rival The Walking Dead out-rated it in the 25-54, 18-49 and 18-39 demographics.

Whereas last week’s premiere of the crime franchise rated 9.7%-10.6% of these key demos, the second episode rated 6.5%-7.4%.

The penultimate episode of The Walking Dead, meanwhile, drew 8.6%-9.5% but with a much stronger lead-in: TV2’s 8.30pm comedy hour is pulling two-to-three times the viewership of TV3’s Rocked the Nation 3, which is struggling in a slot for which it wasn’t commissioned.

Ratings also were down for the night’s other HD drama, TV One’s Nothing Trivial.

It scored a 25-54 rating of 9% (compared to 11% the previous week), an 18-49 rating of 7.1%  (8.8%) and a household shoppers with kids rating of 10.9% (13.1%).

At 8pm, TV2’s HD comedy, $#*! My Dad Says, rated even higher than Shortland Street among HHS/kids, 18-49 year-olds and TV2’s target audience, 18-39 year-olds.