Ratings success for 'bro'Town'

By ALAN PERROTT


Animated Polynesian comedy show bro'Town is an early ratings success, to the relief of TV3 and NZ On Air.

The first two episodes of the half-hour show won their time slots in TV3's target demographic of those aged 18 to 49.

According to ACNielsen ratings, the opening show attracted 13 per cent of the demographic's total potential audience and 32 per cent of the viewing audience during its 8 to 8.30 time slot.

This week, bro'Town improved to a 15 per cent rating, 3 per cent ahead of Taste Takes Off on TV One.

Rick Friesen, chief operating officer for TV3 and C4 parent company TV Works, said they were very pleased with the audience response.

"bro'Town has exceeded our expectations. We believed it was quality stuff and would do well, but it's had a very strong reaction, which is great because it was a risky show for us to produce.

"This is a new genre, Pacific Island comedy and animated at that. You only have to look at the comments in our annual report to see that comedy has been a difficult area for us."

Early response from television critics was mixed.

Herald reviewer Greg Dixon dismissed it as "heavy on the dumb and light on the witty", the Waikato Times found it "laugh-out-loud funny", while the Dominion Post was more circumspect, describing it as "remarkably wince-free".

The first episode also attracted four formal viewer complaints, although three dealt with its promotional publicity.

A spokesman for TV3 said the series was likely to be repeated early next year, with the second series screening late in the year.

Mr Friesen would not comment on the total budget for the show, understood to be about $2 million, but said it was funded mostly from the $1.4 million granted by NZ On Air.

The seven-episode second series is about to go into production, with NZ On Air increasing its contribution to almost $1.9 million.