Reality TV a big turn on

Coastwatch. Photo / Supplied

Kiwis love watching themselves on TV, with reality shows a particular hit, according to mid-year ratings.

Figures for the first six months of 2010 reveal TVOne filled all 10 top spots on the nation's most-watched chart through a strong focus on local content and "actuality" programming.

Big hits were Coastwatch, Rapid Response, Border Patrol and Dog Squad.

Even repeats of Border Security and Coastwatch rated higher than newer shows on other channels.

Veteran media commentator Brian Edwards said the results were "phenomenal".

With the exception of the highest-rating show - the one-off Cheers to 50 Years of Television special in May - Edwards said TVOne's top shows were all locally made programmes within the same genre.

"It is absolutely fascinating that, overwhelmingly, we are watching local programmes and they are all, minus one, what I call actuality programmes - shows that are about our everyday lives," said Edwards.

The top-rating show, a celebration of TVNZ's 50 years of broadcasting, drew 760,200 viewers, despite a critical mauling.

Episodes of Coastwatch gained an average audience of 675,000, and Rapid Response was third with 660,200 viewers.

On TV2, Sensing Murder rated best with an average of 546,900 viewers, followed by Rescue 1 with 509,400 and Shortland Street with 499,700.

The Petra Bagust-hosted What's Really in Our ... ?, was TV3's most-watched, with an average 365,100 viewers, followed by Target with 353,300 and American crime show C.S.I. with 346,400.

The most-viewed Prime show was I Dreamed a Dream: The Susan Boyle Story with 394,900 viewers.

Edwards said ratings depended greatly on a programme's timeslot, how many viewers it inherited from the previous show and what was airing on the opposite channel, rather than quality.

However, TVOne's ratings winners showed Kiwis enjoy watching strong, local programmes about themselves.

"New Zealanders love to see ourselves on TV," he said. "On TV3, Outrageous Fortune is by far the biggest local drama, and the same applies to Shortland Street."

Media commentator Martin Gilman said the ratings suggested a move away from factual programming to entertainment-based shows.

"The reality shows have moved from being more trashy to factual, but there are no current affairs shows on these lists, apart from 3 News.

"There's no Close Up, no Campbell Live - television is moving away from the informative stage and becoming more entertainment-focused."

TV3's director of programming Kelly Martin said she believed local content was more important because Kiwis had lost the "cultural cringe" factor when watching New Zealand shows.

She believed current affairs shows were no longer "must-see" offerings, but said they remained important, with 3News in its channel's top 10.

Prime head of general entertainment Karen Bieleski said locally made, reality-based shows such as Prime's Fifty Years of NZ Television and Danger Beach Muriwai were "stellar" performers, with Prime News bubbling under the network's top 10.

TVNZ's general manager of programming Jane Wilson said factual programming is an important part of TVOne's schedule and there is still a real "appetite" for it.