Lingering summer keeps people away from TVs

The late arrival of fine summer weather has hit the television networks.

AGB Nielsen Media Research figures show that over the past two months the number of people watching TV between 6pm and 8pm on any given night was, on average, nearly 110,000 down on the number watching last year.

The figures comparing February and March 2004 and 2005 also show there was a 6.6 per cent drop - nearly 90,000 viewers - between 6pm and 10.30pm.

Martin Gillman, of Total Media, which buys advertising space, said it was bad news for television networks, which were launching new programmes, such as Prime and TV3's 7pm current affairs shows, and starting new series.

Among viewers aged 20 to 54, the number watching fell 12 per cent between February 2004 and February this year.

Mr Gillman said viewer numbers usually dropped at the start of the year but February normally picked up much faster than had happened this year.

Claire Harris, television services director for AGB Nielsen Media Research, attributed the audience slump to a combination of prolonged fine weather, the absence of a high-rating show such as NZ Idol which screened twice a week last year, and a shortage of big news stories.

In the first week of the year, overall viewership was higher than usual, probably because of the extensive coverage of the Boxing Day tsunami.

Peter Thompson, senior lecturer at Unitec's school of communication, picked the same causes, but said the numbers could also indicate a worrying longer-term problem for television networks.

"Research from other countries, such as Denmark, suggests that children and teenagers in particular are far less interested in television than were their parents' generations."

He said the internet, electronic games, and technology allowing individuals to set their own entertainment, such as iPods, MP3 players and DVDs, meant there was less interest in mainstream channels.

Mr Thompson said the bigger drop from 6pm to 8pm could also show that people were coming home later from work.

The robust economy would soften the risk to advertising revenue for broadcasters, because demand was still high, he said. Any slide in the economy would mean lower ratings would hurt the broadcasters a lot more.

* March weather hit the late summer trifecta - hot, sunny and rainy. A summary by national climate centre Niwa found that temperatures were 1C above average for the top half of the North Island, which bathed in sunny conditions.

The highest temperature of 32.9C was recorded at Darfield in Canterbury on March 5.

Tuning out

Average audience 6-8pm

Feb-Mar 2004: 1,345,324
Feb-Mar 2005: 1,231,954
Drop: 6.6 per cent

Average audience 6-10.30pm

Feb-Mar 2004: 1,318,871
Feb-Mar 2005: 1,235,733
Drop: 8.1 per cent.