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News Zealand: choose data, stick boot in

Aside from these, this, and this, StopPress loves nothing more than data. And we’re particularly fond of hard data. Of course, the brilliant thing about data is that it can be used selectively to show how good you are, and how bad other things, like competitors, are. And there’s almost no better example of this than the tit for tatting that is news ratings data in New Zealand.

Here are some percentages, because, like chutney and cheese, percentages go very well with data.

Campbell Live took victory in both the 18-49 and 25-54 demographics against Close Up last week. From 8-12 March, Campbell Live averaged a 20.9 percent audience share in the 18-49 demographic compared with Close Up’s 17.6 percent. And Campbell Live even took the win in Close Up’s target audience of 25-54 year olds with 21.1 percent share compared to Close Up’s 20.7 percent share.
Campbell Live is also winning the year-to-date against Close Up in the 18-49 demographic, averaging a 17.4 percent share against Close Up’s 16.7 percent. Marvellous, John would presumably say.

“It’s good to see Campbell Live’s strong start to the year has maintained its momentum. John and the team are continuing to get the right mix of stories which seems to be appealing to viewers,” says TV3 director of news and current affairs, Mark Jennings.

While TV3 claims victory in the demographic race, TVNZ still dominates in the total viewership figures.

Monthly averages for February show One News reeled in 500,920 viewers a night with 417,580 sticking around for Close Up, whereas 3 News had 305,540 and Campbell Live 221,680 (interesting aside: Nip/Tuck, which plays on TV2 off-peak, actually rated higher than any show on the TV3 schedule excluding news programming last week).

Away from the evening slots, TVNZ’s Breakfast audience has grown considerably since Paul Henry came back from holiday to start offending everyone on the 1 March.

In the two weeks since his return, Breakfast has averaged 143,625 viewers every morning, a significant gain on the previous fortnight’s average of 119,008. It is also well ahead of the same period last year when 127,242 were watching. And as viewership grows, so does Henry’s ego, making it something of a vicious and highly entertaining cycle.

And here’s the boot being stuck in: TV3’s Sunrise has dropped almost 4,000 viewers on average every day since 1 March compared to the same period last year, averaging 21,770 viewers per morning compared to 25,717 at the same time last year.

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