One month of Seven Sharp vs Campbell Live ratings data
TVNZ made it quite clear from the outset that despite the initial ratings snapshots for Seven Sharp ”it was still too early to draw conclusions on how the show was tracking” but they’re ”very happy with the way the new show is bedding in, but wouldn’t expect to have any firm idea of the trends for another month or so.”
Now that we have a month’s worth of data, we asked TVNZ to comment on how they feel Seven Sharp is performing. A spokesperson for the network told us:
“TVNZ is upbeat about Seven Sharp’s performance so far and we’re pleased with how the show is bedding in.
Seven Sharp is the most popular nightly current affairs show with all New Zealanders. Since it launched last month Seven Sharp has performed ahead of Campbell Live in terms of ratings and audience share for the 5+ TV audience.
There’s growing interest in the show and we’ve got a great base to build on.”
5+ Ratings
TVNZ told us that they use the 5+ ratings measurement to evaluate the ratings success of Seven Sharp.
Here is the 5+ data for Seven Sharp‘s first month vs Campbell Live:
After its first month on air, Seven Sharp had an average audience of 343,938 viewers per episode, 22% higher than its rival on TV3. Campbell Live had 75,225 fewer viewers per episode on average.
Most notably, Campbell Live won two of the twenty nights, the first (and second) time in its history that TV3 had beaten TV One in the weeknight 7pm timeslot.
Key 25-54 demographic
While TVNZ use the 5+ figures to evaluate the ratings success of the show, others in the industry like to examine more specific demographics. In the key 25-54 demographic, Seven Sharp was not ahead of Campbell Live:
Seven Sharp only won seven of the twenty nights. Last year, Close Up won sixteen of the twenty nights.
While Campbell Live won more nights, the average 25-54 audience was only very slightly higher with 1,385 viewers more than Seven Sharp. Last year, Close Up’s average 25-54 audience was 12,300 more than Campbell Live.
Year-on-year performance
To evaluate the ratings success of Seven Sharp, TVNZ also told us their aim is to improve year-on-year performance for the TV ONE 7pm zone. Each year, audience numbers grow in size then taper off again over the summer so just looking at audience sizes from month-to-month is not a good indication of the show’s ratings success or failure.
When comparing this year with last year, Seven Sharp had an average audience that was 16% less than what Close Up had. Meanwhile, Campbell Live increased its average audience by 29%.
In 2012, Close Up had an average audience of 408,000 viewers per episode, almost twice as many as Campbell Live with 208,000. As mentioned earlier in this article, this year Seven Sharp had an average audience of 343,938 viewers per episode, and Campbell Live had 268,713.
Lead in audience
In 2013, Seven Sharp has appeared hemorrhage its lead in audience: it lost an average of 42% of the massive One News audience every night. TV3 lost, on average, 16% of its lead in audience from 3 News.
In 2012, One News lost 31% and Campbell Live lost 29% of their lead in audiences.
In conclusion
TV ONE retained the most watched 7PM current affair show title, despite heavy criticism of Seven Sharp‘s format. The gap with Campbell Live was significantly closer in the 5+ ratings than it was a year ago. In the 25-54 demographic, Campbell Live and Seven Sharp were neck and neck. Seven Sharp lost more of ONE News’ audience than last year, while Campbell Live lost less.
February television viewership are usually some of the lowest for the year so it will be of interest to see what happens as more tune in as the evenings get darker and cooler and as new television habits form for the year. Seven Sharp had a rocky start and Campbell Live has much to be happy about with its ratings for February 2012.
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