TVNZ 2 Slams Door on Changing Rooms
March 4, 2019 
4 Comments
TVNZ 2 is pulling Changing Rooms Australia after presumably a third low-rating broadcast.
I haven’t seen last night’s ratings but they must have been dire enough for the network to this evening announce it will drop Changing Rooms Australia after tonight’s airing.
Sunday’s scheduled broadcast will be replaced by a movie, Finding Dory, while taking over the 7.30 Monday slot will be season three of Travel Guides Australia.
Replacing the off-peak re-runs will be repeats of Once Upon a Time in the morning and Will & Grace in the afternoon.
The changes take effect from March 11.
Changing Rooms rivals The Conners as one of the quickest casualties of the new season, with Three axing the Roseanne spin-off after only two weeks on air.
CRA proved defenceless against Three’s Married at First Sight Australia, which last night won the slot with a 34.1% share of 25-54 year-olds across both Three and Three +1.
MediaWorks reports MAFS is the #1 show among 25-54s. It is averaging a 28.9% weekly share of this demographic and its Chromecasting/Smart TV viewership is up 35% year-on-year.
Three also won the 8.30 movie slot last night, with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword scoring a 25.3% share of 25-54s.
The popularity of MAFS no doubt has encouraged MediaWorks to snap up the rights for a NZ version of Love Island, which it will produce with ITV Studios Australia.
The deal will also deprive TVNZ of Love Island, as it includes the rights to screen all new seasons of Love Island UK and Australia as well as the inaugural Love Island US.
Expect the former duo to air on Three and the latter on ThreeLife.
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March 4, 2019 at 6:49 pm
Not a great show and perhaps better suited for TVNZ 1. Clearly TVNZ doesn’t want to put My Kitchen Rules on yet because they think it could be cannon fodder vs Married At First Sight.
They were up against a behemoth so it’s no surprise. I am stunned that TVNZ let Love Island slip away. What is the rationale behind this, Philip? Didn’t it bring in 8 million streams for TVNZ OnDemand?
I imagine MediaWorks’ commitment to a local version of Love Island trumped TVNZ’s rights to subsequent UK seasons — and acquiring what had been a TVNZ property would have sweetened the deal for a broadcaster that’s milked amazing ratings from the reality genre (The Block, MAFS). TVNZ bet on Heartbreak Island and wouldn’t have room in its schedules for two made-in-NZ variations. It also explains why TVNZ 2 jettisoned the latest seasons of Love Island UK/Australia to late-night.
Why don’t you just give My Kitchen Rules a chance to work with a stronger line-up of entertaining shows?