HDTV Ratings: March 15-18

TVNZ’s Sunday night HD hits The Politically Incorrect Guide to Grown-Ups and The Big Bang Theory continue to thwart Would I Lie to You’s prospects on TV3.

The Nigel Latta series last night averaged 12.0% of the demographic TV One and TV3 pursue, 25-54 year-olds, compared to Big Bang’s 10.7% and Lie to You’s 4.6%.

In the 18-49 demo, Grown-Ups averaged 9.9%, Bang 9.6% and Lie 4.4%; among household shoppers, Grown-Ups drew 14.1%, Bang 13.1% and Lie 5.4%.

Only among 18-39 year-olds did Bang beat Grown-Ups outright: 10.5% versus 8.0%.

At 7.30pm, TV2’s HD comedy Mike & Molly proved vulnerable to strong newsmag ratings on TV One and TV3, losing to Sunday in the 25-54 demo and only just beating it in the 18-49 race.

But it was several points ahead among HHS and 18-39 viewers.

The Big C ended its Sunday night season with a triple-episode that saw 25-54 viewership slip from 4.8% to 1.8% and the HHS rating from 8.5% to 3.2%.

Terra Nova on Saturday was down from previous weeks, averaging only 6.2% of HHS, 5.0% of 25-54 viewers, 3.5% of 18-49 and 2.8% of 18-39.

Its time slot rival, American Idol, also is battering TV3’s Glee on Fridays, with the high school musical averaging only half the audience in most of the key demos except HHS, where it drew 7.1% compared to Idol’s 11.1%.

The two-hour editions of Idol, along with TV One’s Doc Martin, also are hurting Glee’s HD lead-out, The Graham Norton Show, which has gone from winning the 8.30pm hour to finishing second.

Idol’s HD lead-out, Dating in the Dark Australia, is rating exceptionally well at 9.30pm, averaging 6.2%-10.6% of key demos to challenge 7 Days’ supremacy.

Thursday’s season finale of Bones averaged 7.8% of 25-54 viewers, compared to 11.6% for TV2’s Once Upon a Time; the fairy tale drama was four points ahead in other age demos, too, and was twice as popular among HHS.