The Tall Blacks' test series was one of three major events broadcast last month. Photo / Hawke's Bay Today
Maori Television last month attracted the biggest number of viewers since its launch in 2004.
August was the channel's most successful with a monthly cumulative audience of 767,000 unique viewers - meaning that number tuned in at least once for more than eight minutes, according to figures released
from media research company AGB Nielsen.
This beat the channel's previous record of 722,000 viewers, which was set in April.
The latest figures represent one in five New Zealanders aged 5+ , one in four aged 40+, and almost one in two Maori aged 5+ tuning in to the channel.
Over the past six months an average monthly cumulative audience of more than 695,000 unique viewers have tuned into Maori Television - an increase of more than 100 per cent from its first six months on air in 2004.
In August, the channel screened a three-game basketball test series between New Zealand and Australia, the boxing comeback of David Tua, and the live coverage of the Waikato coronation commemorations of King Tuheitia.
Maori Television chief executive Jim Mather said yesterday that the station continued to attract a rapidly growing and increasingly broad audience across all ages, genders and ethnicities.
"We are making solid progress as a public service broadcaster, providing quality New Zealand television that informs, educates and entertains, and we've begun to see the potential of Maori Television as a bridge to promote understanding between Maori and all other New Zealanders," he said.
"More than two-thirds of our audience are non-Maori who are looking for local programming such as Kai Time on the Road, Kete Aronui and Ask Your Auntie, many New Zealand movies and documentaries, and the diverse range of international movies and documentaries that normally would not get air-time on the main commercial networks."
Broadcasting School head Paul Norris said it was natural that a channel with a small audience would be growing its audience.
"I think that Maori Television has been quite smart in the way they have acquired some programming and they've had some useful one-off events in recent months," he said. "It will probably grow more slowly as they get more viewers. But they get themselves talked about which will add to viewers. Viewers will gradually discover the channel, which I think is what's happening."
