KEY POINTS:
TV3 says it will recover the money it paid for the exclusive rights to the rugby World Cup, despite the All Blacks' shock exit and the subsequent drop in expected viewers for the remaining key games.
Ratings for the semifinals and final would have been higher had the
All Blacks made it through, but TV3 said it was still pleased with the ratings.
TV3 spokesman Roger Beaumont said yesterday that it was looking as though the network would break even, after it was rumoured to have paid about $10 million for the exclusive broadcasting rights.
"Given the significance of the event and the profile it's given the network and the disappointing performance of the All Blacks, that's a really pleasing outcome," he said.
"We were very happy with the ratings until the All Blacks dropped out of the tournament - particularly the live games. Then once they dropped out, we knew that would have some impact on audience numbers. But it would be fair to say we were pleasantly surprised at how big an audience we got [for the remaining games]."
He said the South Africa-versus-Argentina semifinal probably did not attract big numbers because it was on early during a weekday.
The ratings for the final were very pleasing, given the All Blacks were not in it.
"Once Kiwis had done their grieving, they recognised it was still a world-class rugby tournament that was on."
Advertisers would be given additional advertising spots as compensation for lower-than-expected ratings for some of the games.
Mr Beaumont said it was too early to say whether the network would bid for the 2011 rugby World Cup rights.
Total Media chief executive Martin Gillman said ratings for the final games were better than expected.
"After the All Blacks were knocked out, both the semifinals and final did a little bit better than we thought. [The final] will still be one of the highest-rating programmes of the year, and especially as it was on a Sunday morning it's a very good result."
He said the volume of airtime TV3 owed to advertisers was not huge.
"They can make it up by squeezing the odd spot into the news and stuff like that, and probably knock a few programme promotions out of the schedule, or something like that, and they'll be able to accommodate it."