HDTV Ratings: Vampire Diaries Down for the Count?

The faces of TV2 programmers will have drained of blood this morning when they saw how ratings for their new Thursday night HD hour, The Vampire Diaries, had lost their bite.

Whereas last week’s premiere was watched by 11.6% of TV2’s target audience, 18-39 year-olds, only 9.2% tuned back in for last night’s second episode.

The show dipped deeper with 18-49 year-olds: 12% last week vs 8.6% this week.

Meanwhile, TV3’s three-hour HD Survivor finale managed to keep most of its viewership, averaging 8.6% of 18-49 year-olds and 7.8% of 18-39 year-olds.

The previous night, TV3’s Underbelly: The Golden Mile rebounded, drawing 11.9% of 18-49 year-olds compared with 11% for TV2’s Rush Hour 3.

Although replacing its sci-fi block with movies has made TV2 more competitive, the hit Underbelly took last week clearly had more to do with Sky Sports’ HD international rugby coverage, which drew 6.8% of 18-49 year-olds.