New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME) today released figures showing Herald NOW had 2.4 million views in July1 and clips from the show had more than 15.7 million views across TikTok, Instagram and Facebook in the first two months, demonstrating the significant demand from audiences for high-quality video news content and premium journalism.
The weekday two-hour live digital news show, presented by award-winning broadcaster Ryan Bridge, has covered some of the country’s biggest stories live on air and hosted high-profile guests including politicians, sporting stars, entertainers, business leaders and celebrities.
With 1 million people watching Herald NOW every month via the NZ Herald app, website and YouTube, its unique audience increased by 41 percent from June to July, demonstrating its growing popularity.
Broadcasting live from NZ Herald’s purpose-built studio facilities at NZME Auckland Central, the platform has also seen NZ Herald, BusinessDesk and Newstalk ZB reporters from across the country providing real-time updates on the latest news, showcasing the talent and expertise of NZME’s newsrooms across the country.
Murray Kirkness, NZ Herald editor-in chief, says: “In its first two months Herald NOW has transformed how Kiwis engage with news content, extending the Herald’s premium news brand and journalism into different territories. Whether viewers are engaging on small screen via our Herald website, app and social media, or big screen via YouTube on connected TVs at home, Herald NOW represents the strength of NZME’s digital capabilities, while complementing our exceptional audio and print offerings nationwide.”
Sarah Bristow, NZME Managing Editor, Multimedia Content says: “I’m so proud of our Herald NOW team for consistently delivering a premium product that not only our audiences love, but advertisers too. Like us, our foundational advertising partners saw the gap in the market for a live digital news product and we’re pleased to have been able to showcase their brands to such a large, engaged audience.
“We continue to look at ways we can expand on our digital offering, having also recently added a video element to several NZ Herald podcasts including The Front Page, Media Insider, Money Talks, The Prosperity Project and Ask Me Anything. We see real value in providing a multimedia experience and the feedback from our audiences and advertisers has been fantastic,” says Bristow.
The Herald NOW figures complement the latest Nielsen Readership Survey results out today, which show the NZ Herald app continues to be the country’s number one news app, having held the top spot for the past 18 months2 .
NZME’s Publishing brands now reach 2.5 million Kiwis each week3, showing continued growth since last survey.
The NZ Herald brand audience has grown consistently over the last five surveys, now reaching 2.39 million Kiwis each week – an additional 139,000 readers year-on-year.
NZME also outperforms its competitors over the weekend, reaching 750,000 Kiwis across the two days, which is 143,000 more than all its daily newspaper competitors combined.
Kirkness says: "The engagement we've seen with Herald NOW since launch and the latest Nielsen results demonstrate our multi-platform approach is working – we're keeping Kiwis in the know through our market leading print publications, our number one news app, our award-winning website, our podcasts and our live digital news platform. Our strength lies in meeting New Zealanders wherever they consume news while delivering the quality, trusted journalism they expect.”
ENDS
Source: 1Brightcove analytics & YouTube analytics Jun – Jul 2025. Unique audience may be duplicated across platforms. 2Nielsen DCR Feb 24 - July 25 3Nielsen CMI Q3 24 – Q2 25 AP15+ Weekly coverage for Dailies, Sunday, Weekend Sun & Newspapers Inserted Magazines. NZH Print + Digital weekly audience
Note: An earlier version of this media release contained an error. Herald NOW has 1 million viewers every month rather than every week as originally stated.