Mont Bee at Top of Ratings Class

Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee stung the competition in the core commercial demographics on Thursday.

It won the 7.30 hour for Three with an 18-49 share of 21.3 (42,782 viewers) and finished second in the 25-54 race with a 17.9 share (48,942).

TVNZ 1’s The Great British Sewing Bee had a higher 25-54 share of 19.4 (51,578) but a much lower 18-49 share of 16.9 (33,157).

Third place-getter The Dog House NZ posted a 25-54 share of 15.8 (43,313) for TVNZ 2 and an 18-49 share of 15.4 (30,916).

Three’s Bee anchored a stellar night for the network, with The Project beating Shortland Street in the key demos and even rivalling TVNZ 1’s Seven Sharp for 18-49 eyeballs.

And at 8.30, a compilation of The Graham Norton Show crushed the competition.

It had a 25-54 share of 21.2 and an 18-49 share of 24.3 vs respective shares of 13.8/14.3 for TVNZ 2’s Love Triangle and 12.9/11.1 for TVNZ 1’s Hard Quiz.

Three’s success continued with Deadliest Catch: Dungeon Cove winning the 9.30 hour with 25-54 and 18-49 shares of 13.1/17.4 vs 11.3/11.4 for TVNZ 2’s First Dates and 9.7/7.3 for TVNZ 1’s Coronation Street.

Note: These overnight ratings exclude viewership of the networks’ +1 SD channels.