The ratings wars: All Blacks, All Whites or Kiwis? Which sporting contest drew the biggest audience?

The All Blacks v France test match won the television ratings battle in the biggest weekend of New Zealand sport this year.

Kiwi sports fans were spoiled for choice with the All Whites facing Peru in a World Cup qualifier at Westpac Stadium in Wellington, the Kiwis battling Tonga at a sold-out Waikato Stadium in the Rugby League World Cup plus the Breakers and Phoenix in action, the latest event in China on the LPGA Tour and a host of other international rugby fixtures.

It was the Sunday morning rugby test match in Paris that drew the biggest television audience with 482,600 tuning in to see a classic game of two halves with the All Blacks eventually beating a spirited French side 38-18.

AC Nielsen figures showed the rugby attracting nearly 100,000 more same day viewers than the Kiwis v Tonga Rugby League World Cup fixture, which got 394,400.

The All Whites v Peru World Cup qualifier had an audience of 346,500 to be the third most-watched sporting contest of the weekend.

Nothing else exceeded an audience of 60,000.

Figures didn't include SKYGO numbers or Prime's coverage of the rugby.

A couple of factors need to be considered in looking at those numbers however - the football and league matches over-lapped, which split the audience.

Because the numbers are same day totals - anyone watching replays later in the day also counted towards the figures. The rugby having the earlier 9am kick-off gave a longer period for viewers to catch up with a replay than the other two codes.

The big loser, viewership-wise, was the high-flying Breakers in the Australian Basketball League. Despite winning their eighth-straight contest to top the table, the Breakers v Perth basketball match on Sunday night didn't feature in the top five most-watched sporting events over the weekend. The LPGA tour event in China, despite Kiwi star Lydia Ko skipping the event, and Kiwi boxer Junior Fa's win over Fred Latham in the United States out-rated it.

Television viewer numbers SKY Sport (ages 5+)
Rugby - All Blacks v France 482,600
League - Kiwis v Tonga 394,400
Football - All Whites v Peru 346,500
Golf - LPGA Tour Blue Bay 59,600
Boxing - Junior Fa v Fred Latham 36,900
Figures courtesy of AC Nielsen