Ratings wars: Breakfast vs Paul Henry

They've officially been on air for a week, so just how are TV One's new Breakfast hosts rating against TV3's Paul Henry?

Hilary Barry and Jack Tame took over the early morning slot last week, replacing Rawdon Christie and Nadine Chalmers-Ross.

Read more:
• New look Breakfast is younger and more upbeat
• Rawdon Christie's life after Breakfast

The move came as TVNZ struggled to keep their lead ahead of TV3, as Paul Henry continued to grow his audience in the key 25-54 demographic.

But last week showed some promising signs as Breakfast ended the week more than 10,000 viewers (aged 25-54) ahead of Paul Henry, according to Nielsen.

Friday morning saw 47,000 viewers aged 25-54 tune into Breakfast, while 34,000 viewers watched Paul Henry.

That marked the largest audience for Breakfast's new hosts, ahead of their debut episode, which saw 46,000 viewers tune in, versus Paul Henry's 40,000.

Mid-week saw the rival programmes neck-in-neck with just 2,000 viewers separating them on Wednesday and just 1000 viewers on Thursday. Both days saw Breakfast narrowly keep the lead over Paul Henry.

Mediaworks remained positive about Paul Henry's performance, however, sending a newsletter highlighting the programme's continued ratings growth.

"When looking at the difference a year makes, against the same week in 2015, Paul Henry is up a whopping 65% while Breakfast has continued to decline, down 20%, in terms of total 25-54 audience each morning," it read.