TV gold as million-plus watch Ferns

The golds at the Commonwealth Games may have been few and far between for New Zealand, but more than one million New Zealanders tuned in to cheer on the Silver Ferns as they beat Australia in the netball final.

Figures from AGB Nielsen Media Research showed that just as the game's last quarter began at 6pm on Sunday, 1,027,400 people were watching the game - one quarter of the population and two thirds of everybody watching television at that time.

The audience was bigger than for the final of Dancing with the Stars (980,000), and about the same size as watched the Lions rugby tour test matches last year on both Sky and TV3 combined.

AGB Nielsen noted the number dropped to 1,020,000 soon after, and expected it was people who had turned on for news then gone to TV3 when they found the netball on One.

Throughout the time the game was on, audience numbers grew from about 700,000 to the peak of over one million for the conclusion.

The netball also delivered a strong night for One News - over 900,000 viewers stayed on the channel for the delayed news, well up on the February average of 574,000.

The beginning of the Games' closing ceremony later that night was watched by 463,000 - a number which halved by the end of the ceremony.

Head of programming Annemarie Duff answered criticism about the frequency of advertising, saying there were fewer commercials on during the Games than TVNZ would normally have in prime time.

"But because it is a live event there is a certain amount of juggling that has to go on so that commercial breaks don't interrupt events. That means that sometimes the commercial breaks will be closer together, which can lead to a perception that there are more ads, but in fact there were fewer."

She said TV One averaged a 41 per cent share of all viewers in the peak period throughout the Commonwealth Games, compared to a 32 per cent share in the fortnight before the Games.

"I think the ratings show that the Commonwealth Games is still an incredibly special event for us and New Zealanders were glued to their screens."

The Commonwealth Games also provided a boost for One News - its ratings lifted from 47 per cent of the audience in the four weeks leading up to the Games to an average of 52 per cent over the period of the Games. TV3's total share fell from 28 per cent to 26 per cent.

One News picked up valuable ground in Auckland, where it moved up from 36 per cent to 41 per cent, while TV3 dropped from 28 per cent of the audience to 26 per cent.

In the target demographics of 18 to 49-year-olds and 25 to 54-year-olds, TV3 still had a significant lead in Auckland, but One News had narrowed the gap.

However, TV3 head of news Mark Jennings said the impact was "negligible" and he was certain those viewers would return to TV3. "They can't be happy with that if this was their big turn-around event."

TVNZ head of current affairs Bill Ralston said the increases had built on a slight lift One News had the previous month. He had expected to pick up some viewers for One News over the Games, as sport lovers tuned in. He expected numbers to slip a little.