Taskmaster NZ Up to the Task

Taskmaster NZ won its time slot on Tuesday when the season-five premiere drew 68,895 adults aged 25-54.

Viewership was up nearly 5,500 adults in the key commercial demographic on its S4 debut this time last year.

It averaged a 3.3 rating/10.49 share to beat TVNZ 1’s Ambulance Australia (54,614 viewers, 2.58 rating/13.19 share) and Three’s The Traitors NZ (53,6439, 2.53 rating/14.08 share).

This was despite a smaller lead-in from Shortland Street (79,784 adults) than Ambulance received from Seven Sharp (88,522).

But TVNZ 2’s audience plummeted at 8.30, when The Hundred with Andy Lee averaged only 16,647 adults opposite TVNZ 1’s Elsbeth (29,704) and Three’s Alert: Missing Persons (22,752).

Earlier, 1 News continued to crush Three News, with 161,362 core demo viewers vs 48,075.

The gap was even wider on Sunday, when 1 News drew 184,959 adults and Three News barely 42,000.

The re-run of David Lomas Investigates that followed Three News drew almost as many viewers as its lead-in (41,047).

1 News and Hyundai Country Calendar dwarfed the competition on Sunday while TVNZ 1’s My Family Mystery won the 7.30 hour with 67,549 adults (3.19 rating/14.6 share).

TVNZ 2’s launch of Farmer Wants a Wife averaged 38,002 viewers off the back of MasterChef Australia’s 61,213.

Three’s network movie premiere of The Gentlemen (15,755) distantly trailed both Farmer and TVNZ 1’s McDonald & Dodds (40,510).