HDTV Ratings: February 20

TV3’s new Monday night strategy worked, with episode two of Homeland rating higher than the premiere and CSI proving more competitive in its later slot.

The homeland security drama still lost against HD rivals Criminal Minds and Desperate Housewives.

But it averaged 6.9% of 25-54 year-olds (versus 4.0% for the premiere), 6.1% of 18-49s (vs 3.5%), 4.8% of 18-39s (vs 2.7%) and 7.0% of household shoppers (vs 2.9%).

Homeland’s 8.30pm numbers also were higher than CSI’s the previous week in all the key demos.

From 9.30-10.30, CSI averaged 4.8% of 25-54s, 4.2% of 18-49s,  3.3% of 18-39s and 5.2% of HHS.

Not only were these figures up on Homeland’s a week earlier in the same slot but the the 18-39 and HHS results were strong enough to out-rate Person of Interest on TV One.

However, CSI still rated well below TV2’s Revenge, which maintained its 18-39 popularity — 10.8% — and gained slightly in the 25-54 and 18-49 demos to average 10.2%-10.4%.

Desperate Housewives was up 2-3 points across the board while TV One’s Criminal Minds also improved, with a 25-54 rating of 9.5% and an 18-49 rating of  8.1%.

Earlier in the night, Modern Family had mixed results. It was up significantly with 18-39s and HHS but slipped with 25-54s and 18-39s.

Similarly, HD stablemate Last Man Standing was down in all the key demos except HHS.

Their HD competition on TV One, Piha Rescue and Rapid Response, posted big gains with the exception of 18-39s, where viewership was down by up to a point.