A fire on Friday afternoon caused an evacuation and a 30-minute delay for 1 News. Photo / Doug Sherring
A fire on Friday afternoon caused an evacuation and a 30-minute delay for 1 News. Photo / Doug Sherring
A fire which meant 1 News could only broadcast half its bulletin last week hit the channel's viewership figures before the broadcaster recovered when the programme eventually went to air, figures have revealed.
However, the small electrical fire which began in a small server room in TVNZ's Victoria St West building on Friday, did see them lose the older viewers - aged 25 to 54 - to its rival Newshub.
The fire began at 5.30pm and caused an evacuation and a 30-minute delay for the state broadcaster's news programme.
Instead, an alternative programme, Kiwi Living, was broadcast as firefighters scrambled to put the fire out and air the building while TVNZ staff raced back to their posts to put the news to air.
Rating figures, compiled by Nielsen TAM, and released to the Herald by Newshub had a brief lead on its rival during the 30 minutes it was off air, nearly doubling its usual audience.
However, once back to normal, 1 News took the reins again, regaining viewers from Three.
Figures for the total TV overnight audience of those aged 5+ show 1 News had 323,000 viewers between 6pm and 6.30pm, before it jumped up to 495,000 for the last half hour.
Over on Newshub, 457,000 people had tuned in for the first 30 minutes before the figures dropped down to 360,000 between 6.30pm and 7pm.
Rating figures released by TVNZ show Newshub had a brief lead on its rival during the 30 minutes it was off air on Friday. Source / Nielsen TAM
However, while 1 News took out the total audience numbers, Newshub dominated the commercial demographic - those aged between 25 and 54 - losing just a fraction of viewers after the fire was sorted from 159,000 to 145,000.
1 News started off with 86,000 older viewers before jumping to 124,000 in the last half of the show.
Viewers from the night before on both channels shows 1 News dominating both age groups, with 750,000 viewers in the 5+ category tuning in to 1 News for its first half hour, and 128,000 preferring Newshub. Numbers are more than triple that of Newshub in the 25-54 age group, 186,000 to 57,000.
A TVNZ spokeswoman said they aired their shortened broadcast without ad breaks to get as much news out as possible.
"A fire alarm and subsequent building evacuation on Friday evening meant 1 News at 6pm was delayed by half an hour until staff could re-enter the TVNZ building.
"TVNZ 1 rating were slightly effected between 6pm and 6.30pm, with 1 News gaining audience numbers back between 6.30pm and 7pm when the programme began broadcasting. The shortened broadcast aired without ad breaks, ensuring viewers were presented as many news stories as possible in the remaining time."
A Mediaworks spokesperson said more than 167,000 Kiwis tuned into Newshub at 6 with a rating of 8.6 in the 25-54 demographic, up from the 2017 average rating of 4.8.
"On Friday 5th January, Newshub Live at 6pm won its timeslot in the commercially important 25-54 demographic with an 8.4 rating. Over 167,000 Kiwis chose to tune into the Newshub bulletin, over 36,000 more than its competitor."
Mediaworks figures include those who watched the bulletin on Three +1, which is broadcast an hour later.
"It was a critical bulletin which covered a fatal accident in Rotorua, the impact of the storm that hit the North Island with further weather warnings for Kiwis planning their travel, a full wrap-up of the day's sport, and the weather forecast," the spokesperson said.
Fire and Emergency NZ assistant area commander Glenn Menzies said the fire was small and contained to one room but produced a lot of smoke which spread to other rooms.
