NZ: More watching TV at 6pm
Jul 01
Statistics released by TVNZ today show New Zealand television has recorded its biggest audience during the 6pm hour in more than a decade.
On average, 1.6 million kiwis aged over 5 were watching television between 6-7pm every night during June – up almost 10% on last June and equating to an extra 140,000+ viewers every night.
Most of this audience is watching television news (43% watching ONE News and 27% watching 3 News), 11% are on TV2 and the rest are spread across the remaining channels.
The last time the 6pm hour had so many viewers was in July of 1998.
Eleven years on, TVNZ Head of News and Current Affairs, Anthony Flannery believes the recession is responsible.
“With so much uncertainty around the economy it appears that people are saving money by staying at home and watching TV for free, and News is proving an important part of that increased viewing,”
For the month of June, ratings show the 6pm news hour rated an average of just over 700,000 for ONE News while rival 3 News held just over 440,000 average viewers.
Meanwhile, the battle for late night viewers intensified further with an average of just 890 viewers between the two broadcasts, ONE News Tonight (173,770) and TV3′s Nightline.
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on air July 1st 2009