Bachelor NZ contestants Gab, Erin, Lara and Kate gathered for a gossip session during last night's episode.
Bachelor NZ contestants Gab, Erin, Lara and Kate gathered for a gossip session during last night's episode.
Are Kiwis over The Bachelor? Ratings have hit an all-time low as this week's episodes saw fewer viewers tune in to the reality romance.
Last night 223,000 New Zealanders tuned into The Bachelor NZ on TV3. Of those, 130,000 were aged 18 to 49, while just 111,000 viewers were aged 25-54.
Ratings in the 24-54 demographic hit an all-time low last night, dropping from 135,000 the previous night. That's down from the season peak of 192,0000 viewers that tuned in for episode two.
The Bachelor NZ ratings for season 2
Meanwhile, the overall number of viewers watching the show dropped from 240,000 on Monday night, down from 262,000 viewers last Tuesday.
However, MediaWorks says the show is performing better than ever on digital platforms with a 24 per cent increase in on-demand viewing and live-streaming, compared to last year.
Likewise, time-shifted viewing has increased 50 per cent this year, with viewers recording the programme and watching it after it screened.
The long weekend may have played a part in the decline, particularly for Monday night's episode, however the show's ratings reveal a continuing downward trend over the past three weeks.
Disgruntled viewers took to Twitter this week to complain about the lack of action on the show.
One person tweeted; "Was Art as intolerably boring to watch as Jordan is?".
Another viewer wrote; "How can they make a trip to Hawaii seem boring?!".
Was Art as intolerably boring to watch as Jordan is? #thebachelorNZ
"So far, the returns are very much diminished. Despite the flasher mansion it feels a poorer relation on almost every front. The dates are hard work.. but all feel like they wear their budgetary constraints too prominently. The Bachelorettes are a more timid lot, and prone to the kind of in-fighting which proves some of the shows more humourless critics infuriatingly close to right," he wrote.
"Cumulatively it means that if this season were a rose, rather the thorny and fully blooming version of 2015, this one would be drooping limply in the vase, its petals scattered and listless at is base."
The question now is how will Mediaworks regenerate interest in their show?
