Throng New Zealand (www.throng.co.nz) recently surveyed four free-to-air local news bulletins in depth over a four week period: ONE News, 3 News, PRIME News - First at 5:30 and TVNZ News at 8.

In many areas the four bulletins were very similar but there were also some surprising differences. This summary focuses on overall comparisons between the bulletins and is the second of a series of releases comparing the news bulletins over this four week period.

How did the news bulletins compare for news, sport and weather coverage?

ONE News: 57% News, 27% Sport, 16% Weather
3 News: 65% News, 25% Sport, 10% Weather
PRIME: 59% News, 36% Sport, 4% Weather
TVNZ 7: 74% News, 15% Sport, 11% Weather

How often was breaking news used?

ONE News: 3 times (Marie Davis case, Sinking yacht, Whangamata crash
3 News: 2 times (Pizza delivery man abducted, Whangamata crash)
PRIME: 3 times (Bailey Kurariki released from jail, Marie Davis case, Whenuapai plane crash)
TVNZ 7: 0 times

Live crosses have become more common in recent times with some Throng commenters recently discussing if they are used too frequently:

ONE News: averaged 3.3/bulletin, maximum: 7 in a bulletin
3 News: averaged 2.6/bulletin, maximum: 6 in a bulletin
PRIME News: only 1 in the survey period
TVNZ 7: averaged 1.9/bulletin, maximum: 5 in a bulletin

With recent controversies over the in-bulletin promotions for other TV shows - such as the Deal or No Deal models’ dresses story, how many TV shows did the news bulletins mention or show clips of?

ONE News: Agenda (5 times), Breakfast, Hannah Montana, Reluctant Hero documentary, Sex and the City and South Park
3 News: 60 Minutes, Campbell Live, Home and Away (twice), Rove (twice), Kath & Kim and Prison Break
PRIME News: Flight of the Conchords, Oprah, Sky News, WWE Raw and Hannah Montana
TVNZ 7: Agenda (5 times), Close Up, The View and The Bachelor

Part one of the report regarding sports coverage can be found at http://www.throng.co.nz/throng/throng-special-report-new-zealands-evening-news-sports-coverage

Data collected from 21/4/2008 - 18/5/2008. Please contact us for further information.