HDTV Ratings: The Pacific Conquers Rivals

HD newcomers The Pacific and Criminal Minds have helped TV One to rebound in the ratings.

Monday’s second instalment of the WWII drama was more popular than the first and led TV One to win the slot with its target audience, 25-54-year olds, beat TV3’s CSI in the 18-49 demo and shrink the lead of Desperate Housewives on TV2.

It was viewed by 13.2% of 25-54 year-olds, compared to 12.1% the previous week and the 9.3% the slot had averaged over the previous four weeks. Moreover, for the same week last year, TV One could muster only 5.5%.

It was a similar story with 18-49 year-olds, but with the figures slightly lower in each case.

Meanwhile, ditching Sunday Theatre for season five of Criminal Minds has made the network more competitive with TV2’s Sunday Premiere Movie and TV3’s Bones.

But programmers will be concerned about the big drop in viewership between the premiere, which won the slot both in 25-54 and 18-49, and Sunday’s episode, where it finished third.

The latter drew 8.9% of 25-54 year-olds (compared with 13% the previous week) and 7.7% of 18-49 (10.8%).

Programmers also will be frustrated that Criminal Minds’ stablemate, Damages, is barely retaining half of its lead-in, which mirrors the show’s rating struggles in the US, where the third season has just aired in HD and a fourth is unlikely.

If you’re too impatient to wait to see how season two of Damages ends, the Region 4 DVD can be ordered from Australia, where it went on sale in November; compounding the blow of not seeing it in HD on TV One was Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s decision not to release it on Blu-ray, as it did with season one.