TV talent show pushes right buttons

New Zealanders enjoy watching other Kiwis on television, especially talented ones.

So much so, that nine of the top 10 most-watched shows in 2012 were episodes of New Zealand’s Got Talent.

The All Blacks tests and our rowers’ Olympic races were the most popular sports events of the year, and the best watched drama was Shortland Street.

In fact, five of the six free-to-air channels’ favourite shows involved talented Kiwis – only FOUR bucked the trend, with its top show a screening of First Blood.

State-owned network TVNZ led the viewership stakes in 2012 with all 50 most-watched shows. TV One had 48 of the most-popular episodes, while TV2 chipped in with two instalments of Shortland Street.

TVNZ spokeswoman Megan Richards said it had been a good year for the network.

‘‘We expected New Zealand’s Got Talent to do well, but it actually exceeded our expectations and it certainly reinforced our

Rambo: faith in local content. There were a few jokes around at the start about whether New Zealand did in fact have talent, but I think there’s little doubt about that now.’’

Winner Clara van Wel’s first single, Where Do I Find Love is at No 11 on the New Zealand Singles Chart.

Almost a quarter (24.6 per cent) of the population tuned in for one of the early rounds of NZGT, making it the most popular episode of any show in 2012.

One News was the best-viewed news programme, more than twice as popular as 3 News. The most watched news specials were Barack Obama’s presidential victory speech, the US election and The Hobbit premiere.

Only three shows in the top-50 were foreign – all three were episodes of Australian police show The Force.

The viewership data, from Nielsen ratings, reveal Mediaworks – which runs TV3 and FOUR – did not feature in the top 50 shows.

The Nielsen ratings are based on all viewers in all age groups over 5 years old.