Below is New Zealand’s Monthly Average TV News Viewership for September 2009.

Source: AGB NMR (Measurement: All people 5 years and over – average daily audience nationwide)

The TV advertisements for Telecom XT have been voted the worst ads of the year by television viewers in the 2009 Fair Go Ad Awards.

Telecom’s new digital XT mobile network was launched by British celebrity, Richard Hammond mid-year in one of the biggest multi-media advertising campaigns New Zealand has seen in recent years.

Feedback into Fair Go about Telecom XT shows that the negative vote wasn’t necessarily about the advertising, “It seems some of it was driven by viewer’s frustration with the service itself, a rural viewer summed it up by saying that it’s nice having mobile coverage in Andorra or rural Australia but what about my mobile working in Whangarei or rural Northland?”, said Fair Go Editor, Graeme Muir.

“We’re also not sure that importing an Englishman to sell product works anymore, it used to in the 1970s and 1980s, but I’m not sure Hammond worked as well as Telecom would have hoped”.

“Overall, I think the XT campaign was a bit like a Hollywood blockbuster that tanked – it was a bit overblown and didn’t really deliver”.

Telecom XT only just beat Cadbury’s ‘Eyebrow’ Ad for the title of Worst Ad of 2009, but there was no contest for Best Ad of the year.

“The Mitre 10 Kids DIY was the clear winner for Best Ad, this ad captured the tone perfectly, you could easily imagine two blokes having the same DIY chat over a beer at the pub and when you put together cute kids and a swipe at the Aussies you have the perfect storm”.

The Student Awards this year were equally distributed amongst the North and South Islands with Linwood College in Christchurch winning the best Secondary School Award for its ad for an ‘unpopular school subject’ and Hokowhitu Primary School in Palmerston North winning the Best Primary/Intermediate Award for its ad for a ‘time travel holiday’.

Below are TVNZ and TV3’s television news viewing figures for 8th July 2009, inlcuding Michael Jackson’s memorial broadcasts.

Source: AGB NMR (Measurement: All people 5 years and over – average daily audience nationwide)