Sensing Murder Murders the Competition

The critics abhor it but TVNZ 2’s Sensing Murder is one of the network’s most popular shows.

Duncan Grieve in the NZ Herald dubbed it a “grotesque sham” that’s “made an unwelcome return from the grave”.

And Steve Kilgallon in a 2016 Stuff article declared TVNZ “should be ashamed” of renewing the psychic sleuthing hour for a fifth season (but the first in HD).

“It’s an insult to New Zealand television audiences that they be expected to swallow such patent rubbish.”

But they did so — hook, line and sinker — when it premiered last Thursday at 8.30.

It averaged 7.0% of the network’s core 18-49 viewership, 7.6% of 25-54 year olds and 6.1% of the 18-39 demographic.

It was most popular among household shoppers with kids — 8.1% — and won the hour in all the key commercial demos with channel shares of 30.0% plus.

TVNZ 1’s Blindspot averaged only 2.5% of 25-54s and Three’s movie The Bourne Legacy 4.6% in its first hour.

It’s not even as though SM had the strongest lead-in, with Three’s Jono and Ben winning the 7.30 hour with 18-49s and proving competitive in the other core demos.

SM’s popularity also helped lead-out The Lie Detective to win the 9.30 hour, averaging 5.1% of 25-54s, 4.5% of 18-49s, 6.1% of 18-39s and 6.9% of HHS/k.

SM could face tougher competition tonight, with TVNZ 1 replacing Blindspot with Code Black and Three re-running Shooter, which averaged 5.5% – 7.9% of the key demos when it aired two years ago.