New Season: Britain’s Got Traction

Britain’s Got Talent got traction on Thursday, when the season premiere scored top ratings for TV1.

It didn’t win the 7.30 hour outright but the second half out-rated the competition and helped the finale of Offspring to win its slot in two of the network’s key demographics (25-54, household shoppers with kids).

Moreover, it led to TV1 winning the night in all the core demos except 18-39.

BGT averaged 4.4% – 10.8% of the commercial demos and Offspring, 3.7% – 7.9%.

BGT drew roughly double the viewership of TV3’s Wild Weather With Richard Hammond (3.4% – 3.9%), which was only vaguely competitive in the 18-39 demo.

The show’s popularity here mirrors its success in the UK, where episode three last week hit a series high with nearly 10 million viewers.

TV2 dominated at 7.30, with Police Ten 7 (7.1% – 12.6%) off the back of a shockingly low 7.9% – 13.6% for Shortland Street.

TV2’s line-up struggled thereafter, with Highway Patrol (5.2% – 8.9%) proving vulnerable to BGT and dynamic duo The Flash (3.7% – 4.6%) and Arrow (1.9% – 2.8%) being squeezed by Offspring or TV3’s re-run of Tears of the Sun (2.6% – 4.2%).

Thursday’s HD channel ratings and shares were:

On Wednesday, TV2 ruled with Shortland Street, My Kitchen Rules, The Big Bang Theory and 2 Broke Girls.

MKR averaged 9.6% – 15.0%, which was 2-3 times the viewership of TV3’s The Bachelor NZ (5.1% – 5.8%).

TV3’s movie No Strings Attached (3.2% – 5.0%) struggled in its first half but largely beat TV2’s Once Upon a Time (2.7% – 5.7%).

TV1’s I Am Innocent ended its run with 4.2% – 8.1%, which was impressive against TV2’s top-rating HD comedies.

Wednesday’s HD channel rates and shares were: