Seven Sharp debuted last night to mixed fanfare from viewers, but TVNZ (and principal sponsor RaboDirect) won’t be disappointed with the audience figures released today for the coveted 7-7:30pm slot.
According to Nielsen, Seven Sharp averaged 497,000 viewers in its 30-minute run, with 12 percent of the 5+ audience.
This is more than double what current affairs competitor Campbell Live managed last night, with 243,000 viewers.
Last year on the first Monday of February, Close Up pulled in an audience of 447,000, compared to Campbell Live with 208,500.
Correction: In a previous version of this article, StopPress mistakenly used figures from an incorrect date.
In an email to staff last night, Ross Dagan, outgoing head of current affairs at TVNZ, says he’s proud of the show’s first performance, adding that the New Zealand public should wait until the show gets rolling to judge its success.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint, so while there will invariably be a great deal of commentary finally reviewing the programme based on content, our measure of success will be how well we connect with the audience in the weeks, months and years ahead… not just tonight,” says Dagan.
Seven Sharp’s first show ratings are an impressive feat, but it’s there or there abouts to what TVNZ was achieving with repeats of Border Patrol filling in the the 7pm slot, earlier this year.
It’ll be clearer over the next week if viewers of the show are watching because of its content, or because they’ve grown accustomed to the TV One logo. Like co-host Jesse Mulligan says, we’ll have to wait and see while the show warms up, if viewers warm up to the show.
I’d like to see this settled with an acapella battle #sevensharp vs #campbelllive
— Anna Connell (@AnnaGConnell) February 4, 2013
