Last King Comes Last

Three’s double-episode premiere of Last King of the Cross on Sunday finished last in the 25-54 ratings race with TVNZ 1 and TVNZ 2.

The first episode drew 21,012 viewers at 8.30 vs 74,984 for TVNZ 1’s George Clarke’s Remarkable Renovations.

And at 9.30, TVNZ 1’s For Her Sins (27,246) drew 15,000 more viewers than the second episode.

TVNZ 2’s movie, xXx: Return of Xander Cage, straddled both episodes with a 25-54 viewership of 22,119.

TVNZ 1 dwarfed the competition all night, with 1 News and Hyundai Country Calendar each drawing more than 143,000 viewers, while Sunday averaged 97,505.

Three’s House Rules NZ averaged 44,290 and TVNZ 2’s movie ‘Crocodile’ Dundee 39,840.

TVNZ 1’s peak demo share was 35.17 vs 14.67 for Three and 10.83 for TVNZ 2.

Three’s most-watched programme on Saturday night was Matt Watson: In Too Deep, which lured 55,337 viewers in the 25-54 demo.

That was more than double the viewership of TVNZ 1’s Epic Gameshow (21,819) while TVNZ 2’s Jurassic World averaged 44,908.

Three’s 8.30 movie Mad Max: Fury Road revved up 40,807 viewers vs 24,784 for TVNZ 2’s 28 Days Later while TVNZ 2’s bingeing of Changing Ends improved from 5,652 viewers at 8.00 to 19,064 at 10.00.

TVNZ 1’s peak demo share was 21.67 vs 13.60 for Three and 11.93 for TVNZ 2.

On Friday, TVNZ 1 led with The Repair Shop but Three’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League scraped into the top 10 whereas TVNZ 2’s Days of Thunder didn’t even crack the top 20.

TVNZ 2 fared much better on Thursday, when Travel Guides (Australia) won the 7.30 hour with 82,184 viewers while the season premiere of Down for Love averaged 54,984.

Both shows blitzed Three’s double-episode of The Traitors UK (28,186/26,767), which also was crushed by TVNZ 1’s The Great Australian Bake-off (80,206).

That gave TVNZ 2 a rare peak demo win over Three (18.50 vs 15.38) but TVNZ 1 dwarfed both (31.69).