Campbell show under pressure

A year ago John Campbell opened TV3's battle against TV One with the war cry "G'day youse fullas, haere mai, welcome to the show."

Campbell Live has since won awards and been praised by critics.

However, the craze has not swept the nation - its audience size only just matches the show it replaced, The Simpsons.

Commentators were surprised Campbell Live's audience had not grown as the programme settled in, especially given the significant growth of 3 News.

TV3 head of news Mark Jennings said he was happy with Campbell Live's first-year ratings, but he would be disappointed if the ratings did not grow this year.

Given the network's decision this week to put on hold its planned breakfast show and divert resources into the prime-time Campbell Live and 3 News, more pressure will be on the Campbell show to grow its audience.

According to AGB Nielsen Media Research monthly average figures, throughout its first year the show sat steady on 15 to 17 per cent of the total audience.

It fares well in the major cities, where it has the edge over Close Up in the 18-to-49 and 25-to-54 age groups.

Close Up's share was almost immediately reduced from 38 per cent to 34 to 35 per cent, but Campbell Live has been unable to dent it beyond the initial blow, despite the slump in One News.

Close Up gets more than double Campbell Live's overall audience, and still beats it in TV3's national 18-to-49 age demographic.

Martin Gillman, CEO of media planning and buying company Total Media, queried whether Campbell Live's performance would be enough for investors.

He said Campbell Live was a significant investment and gave TV3 credibility, but the cost of resourcing the programme far exceeded that of screening The Simpsons, despite playing to similar audience sizes.

"I am a very strong Campbell supporter, but I have no doubt TV3 must be under a little bit of pressure to justify their investment," he said. "It rates less than The Simpsons in their target demographic nationally. Its audience levels overall would make it a tough decision to keep going with it.

"CanWest are going to come under a bit of pressure from any investors who don't care about the product who will be asking if it's worthwhile to keep going. At face value the answer to that is 'No'. But I think TV3 should have the guts to stick with it because it's worth persevering with."

Jennings said the Campbell Live effect went beyond its own timeslot.

"If you look overall at the impact of Campbell Live, it has been huge in terms of our brand. The news has grown by 40 per cent. If Campbell is in any way responsible, then that is a big return and I'm ecstatically happy."

Head of broadcasting school at Christchurch Polytechnic Paul Norris said the programme's approach in refusing to be driven by the news of the day put off purists, but it had a good sense of its audience.

"It tries to engage with them, so you think this is a programme which is going somewhere. In comparison, Close Up has a jaded look, so I would have expected Campbell Live to have more growth."

Jim Tully, head of the political science and communications school at Canterbury University, said Campbell Live had boosted TV3's overall reputation and generated valuable publicity.

TV One head of current affairs Bill Ralston said a hit was inevitable, but nationally Close Up was still dominant across all key demographics.

"It is down on last year, but not that much considering there is now competition against it.

"It is still watched by twice as many people as watch John Campbell, and in TV One's main target group we are clearly winning."