Blues win Sky TV's popularity contest

Steven Luatua of the Blues. Photo / Getty Images.

Despite sitting bottom of the New Zealand Super Rugby conference the Blues remain the most watched team in the country.

The Blues, who have won just two of their opening six matches this season, have attracted "hundreds of thousands" more eyeballs to their matches than the second most popular team the Hurricanes, according to Sky TV Spokeswoman Kirsty Way.

"The good news is that on last year, more people are watching rugby and in the first round this year we actually had the highest viewership since 2006," Way told Newstalk ZB's Tony Veitch.

"The most popular matches are all of the New Zealand teams and the rank in popularity goes Blues, Hurricanes, Highlanders, Chiefs, Crusaders."

Way said the numbers matched the popularity profile of New Zealand with Auckland and Wellington the two largest catchment areas.

"Super Rugby is not more popular than ever, but it's certainly more popular than it was last year. We have this new format this year and we weren't sure how it was going to go but even though there have been more games, this year we have more people watching than last year.

Way said the Force were the most watched Non-New Zealand side in the competition, ahead of the Argentinian Jaguares and the South African Kings.

"The biggest audience we have had all season was the Blues v Chiefs on the 8th of April."