Campbell Live claims second win as Seven Sharp hits all-time low

UPDATE / Feb 16: Friday night Nieslen ratings were more bad news for TVNZ.

Campbell Live, with 285,910 viewers, claimed its second 5+ audience win over Seven Sharp (and only the second 7pm win since the TV3 show was launched in 2005; both wins have been claimed since Seven Sharp launched).

Seven Sharp slumped to an average 5+ audience of 234,980 viewers Friday night, or roughly half that achieved by Mark Sainsbury's Close Up during September last year.

Industry site Throng points out Seven Sharp benefits from a much larger lead-in audience (courtesy of One News much larger viewership over 3News). But last night 55% of the One News audience, switched channels or otherswise switched off rather than sticking around for Seven Sharp.

Again, a possible read is that Seven Sharp has alienated the older One News audience without attracting younger viewers from TV3.

Seven Sharp vs Campbell Live: The first two weeks (via Throng. Click to zoom).

Campbell Live claims historic ratings win over Seven Sharp   

Feb 13: TV3's Campbell Live out-rated TV One in 5+ audience for the first time ever last night, MediaWorks says.

The broadcaster has circulated Nielsen figures (right) which show Campbell Live beat Seven Sharp across three demographics.

Campbell Live had 352,000 5+ viewers to 296,700 for Seven Sharp.

One read on the figures is that Seven Sharp's assertive use of social media has alientated older viewers while failing, so far, to attract a younger audience.

Seven Sharp debuted on Monday February 4. It replaced Close Up, which averaged 456,000 5+ viewers last year.

Promotion for last night's episode of Campbell Live centred on an exclusive interview with Sanitarium CEO  Pierre van Heerden, who revealed the date Marmite would be back on shelves (March 20) and an Auckland vs London supermarket price comparison.

TV One's departing head of news and current affairs Ross Dagan says it is too early to judge Seven Sharp's ratings.

Ironically, Seven Sharp's historic slip happened on a night when media commentator Brian Edwards judged the show had displayed "a real edge."