The Walking Dead Ravages Rivals

The return of The Walking Dead on Monday helped TVNZ 2 to wipe out the competition for the night.

The season-eight premiere posted the zombie sensation’s lowest opening US ratings in five years but here held up well and easily won the 9.30 hour in the key commercial demographics.

It averaged 4.0% of 25-54 and 18-49 year-olds, 4.3% of 18-39 and 5.7% of household shoppers with kids.

Compare that to the first hour of Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders, which averaged 0.4% – 2.4% in these demos, and Blue Bloods, which couldn’t even top 0.9%.

TWD was delivered a solid lead-in by comedies Will & Grace and The Mick, which won the 8.30 hour.

The former averaged 4.6% – 7.1% of key demos and the latter, 4.6% – 6.6%.

TVNZ 1’s desperate strategy to boost Doctor Foster with a viewer competition barely lifted its ratings, with the series averaging a steady 2.7% of 25-54 — but that was higher than Three’s Tin Star, which fell from last week’s bounce back to a 25-54 average of only 2.0%.

Three’s Married at First Sight NZ also came off second best against TVNZ 2’s My Kitchen Rules NZ: the former averaged 4.0% – 5.6% of key demos and the latter, 5.6% – 6.8%.

Prime’s 8.30 George Michael special, which aired within days of the UK, averaged 1.1% of 25-54 while lead-in ITM Hook Me Up fell sharply from 2.1% of this demo the previous week to 0.9%.