Record winnings and strong ratings last night for the series final of what is expected to be the first of two seasons of The Block to screen on Nine this year. There was no mucking around with a drawn-out final episode – the producers powered through the open for inspection quickly followed by the reserves, the auction order and then bang, bang, bang, bang for each auction. There was even almost no time for a Darren and Deanne conspiracy theory.
The final episode screened for 90 minutes with the winner reveal segment of the show pulling just over 2m viewers. The number two with six digits after it has only turned up once in OzTAM data previously this year and that was for the second session of the World Cup Cricket Final with 2.40m watching.
The Block pushed Nine to a rare five-market victory. Nine Sydney had the best share with 32.6% – the others were Melbourne 30.7%, Brisbane 27.1% Adelaide 20.7% and Perth 22.6%. Nine was ahead of Seven by less than a point in Adelaide and Perth.
Seven trailed by 9.9 points with ABC and TEN both close to 11%.