KEY POINTS:
Mark Sainsbury has had a promising start to the new year with TV One's Close Up winning the 7pm current affairs battle - at national level.
In audience figures for the year so far, Close Up was watched by an average audience of 413,500 people compared with Campbell Live's 175,700, according to AGB Nielsen Media Research.
It is a hopeful start for Sainsbury's first weeks as fulltime host since Susan Wood quit late last year, citing a need for a quieter life after a health scare from a lump on her neck.
But it is early days yet in the battle of Mr Marvellous versus Mr Moustache.
And while Close Up is ahead overall, the two are neck and neck in Campbell Live's target audience of people aged 18 to 49. Further, host John Campbell has the edge among Aucklanders in that age range.
Over summer Campbell faced the ignominy of being outrated by The Simpsons.
The last week of repeats of the animated comedy pulled almost 45,000 more viewers aged 5-plus on average in the slot than Campbell Live's first eight episodes.
However, fewer people overall are watching television than at the same time last year.
