TV3 stands by 'Business'

TV3's Mark Jennings, above, and Michael Wilson, right. Photo / NZ Herald

TV3'S head of news is bullish about the channel's early-morning business show, despite daily viewing figures that slumped as low as 660 last month.

On average, the 30-minute 6.30am ASB Business show pulls only about 2000 viewers each morning, compared to TVNZ's daily average of 7300 viewers for NZI Business at 6am.

AGB Neilsen Media Research showed NZI Business' ratings for all people aged 5 and over were three times higher than their rival for February through to April.

TV3 news boss Mark Jennings said it would not consider canning the show because morning TV was the biggest area of growth for free-to-air TV and advertising figures remained stable for the timeslot.

The two shows run half an hour apart and TVNZ was in a better position to draw in viewers first at 6am, he added.

"NZI is up against the Hour of Power [an evangelical Christian broadcast], while ASB is up against Breakfast and Hi-5, which is a much tougher line-up."

He said TV3 was not considering moving ASB Business at present, although he would not rule it out in the longer term.

ASB marketing head Jonathan Symons said the sponsor was not concerned by the ratings.

"It is still a relatively new show and the breakfast market is a tough market," he said. "You are not going to expect huge ratings at that time in the morning."

ASB Business host Michael Wilson moved to TV3 with the show when it switched from TV One in 2007. It was reported that he made the change because of TVNZ's plans to move the show from 6.30am to 6am.

TVNZ spokeswoman Andi Brotherston said there was a danger its audience could have moved to TV3 with Wilson, but ratings remained consistently higher.

"Not only did we have to launch a new business programme, but we moved it half an hour earlier. We had no idea what would happen, but the programme is gaining in strength."