Over the last five years, The Block NZ has become one of the most important shows on the MediaWorks lineup, with Kiwi audiences flocking to the show to get their fix of DIY reality TV.
The popularity of the show has certainly remained strong in the important 25-54 demographic (favoured by advertisers), with 251,000 viewers tuning in to the free-to-air broadcast on Sunday night to see Wellingtonians Sam Cable and Emmett Vallender walk away with a profit of $480,000 after selling their St John’s Road townhouse for $1,610,000 ($380,000 above their set reserve price).
This TV audience turnout in this key audience segment is up on the previous two seasons but down on the first two seasons (the show peaked in season two with 346,600 in the 25-54 demographic tuning in for the finale).
These numbers delivered a considerable 37 percent share of the total free-to-air audience, and won all the key demographics on the night.
The MediaWorks comms team adds that the average 25-54 audience across the latest season increased from the previous year.
The overall audience did not have quite as positive a story, with an average of 450,700 tuning in for the finale. This was below last season’s figures, but up from the third season. It was, however, well below the turnout for the hugely popular second season of the show.*
According to Nielsen data, 2.6 million viewers (1.3 million in TV3’s core target of viewer aged 25-54) have tuned into the The Block this year. This number is also likely to increase as a Kiwis catch up through 3Now over the next few days.
Traditional TV viewership has increased during season five by two percent, while online streaming has increased by 17 percent.
This season added a little bit of extra drama with a battle of the sexes theme, and an alleged on-set romance for show. It was essentially The Bachelor meets DIY.
MediaWorks has already sent out a casting call for the sixth season, and we can only hope the broadcaster ups the ante by introducing four unique teams made up of the two former Kiwi Bachelors, a pair of Real Housewives of Auckland, former Dancing with the Stars contestants and the final one consisting of Naz Khanjani and Chrystal Chenery. Now, that would certainly be some full-blown reality action.
*Correction: The data included under the (+5) category was previously incorrect, in that it conflated two different sets of data. The information for seasons 1 to 3 previously referred to overall reach of the episode, while the data for seasons 4 and 5 referred to average audience over the course of the episode. These two sets of data were not comparable. StopPress apologises for the error.
