KEY POINTS:
TV3 is losing the battle for morning viewers.
Latest television viewer figures, obtained by the Weekend Herald, show TV3's new morning programme Sunrise is struggling against its established TVNZ competitor Breakfast.
Breakfast had a daily average of 113,800 viewers over the two weeks to October 1; Sunrise had an average of 19,500 viewers over the same period, AGB Nielsen figures show.
A snapshot of viewer numbers on Thursday showed Breakfast averaged 142,000 watchers from 6.30am to 9am, and Sunrise averaged 11,570 from 6.30am to 8.30am.
At 8am, Breakfast had 182,000 viewers; Sunrise had fewer than 4000.
But TV3 said one day did not make a trend.
"For the month of October, Sunrise's total average daily audience was 29,000 compared with Breakfast's 110,000," said channel spokesman Roger Beaumont. "That means Sunrise has achieved 26 per cent of their total audience after just a month on air."
TV3 was far more upbeat about figures showing Campbell Live had beaten TV One's Close Up in key demographics over a month for the first time.
The figures showed Campbell Live edged ahead in October among viewers in its target 18-49 age bracket, with 18 per cent of the nationwide audience compared to 17.6 per cent for Close Up. Campbell Live also came out just on top in the metropolitan 25-54 age bracket, which is targeted by TVNZ.
