NEW ZEALAND: Pakeha have eye on Maori TV

More Pakeha are watching Maori Television than Maori, according to the first ratings from the new broadcaster in New Zealand

Pacific Media Watch
Friday, June 25, 2004

AUCKLAND (Dominion-Post/Stuff Online/Pacific Media Watch): More Pakeha are watching Maori Television than Maori, according to the first ratings from the new broadcaster in New Zealand.

The Nielsen Media Research ratings for the channel's UHF broadcasts show that 65 per cent of viewers in the first 12 weeks were Pakeha and 35 per cent Maori.

The figures show that 358,000 individuals tuned in to Maori Television at some stage during the 12 weeks after it began broadcasting in March, 35 per cent of them Maori.

In its first week, 126,000 viewers tuned in, 59 per cent of them Maori.

For the past four weeks, an average 249,000 people watched the channel at some stage, 56 per cent of them non-Maori. The audience peaked in the second four weeks on air, averaging 300,000, half Maori and half non-Maori.

Maori Television spokeswoman Sonya Haggie said the channel was pleased by how many Pakeha were watching.

She said many more, both Maori and Pakeha, were watching it through Sky, but they were not yet being measured in the Nielsen ratings.

The channel's five top-rating shows for all viewers aged over five were Marae DIY, the Sunday movie, Korero Mai (the daily language class within a soap opera), Kai Time on the Road (a cooking show) and the dip into the archives show Nga Puna/Maumahara.

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Date Posted: 6/25/2004