3.809 million watch The Block final, 9% down on last year

As was expected the grand final night of The Block won the night for Nine but the figures were down noticeably from last year.

The Glenn Dyer breakdown: As was expected the grand final night of The Block won the night for Nine with over 2.7 million metro viewers for the winner’s announcement and 3.809 million nationally. The auction was watched by 2.459 million in metro markets and 3.464 million nationally, while the first bit of the regular program — called the Grand Final — was watched by 2.145 million in metro markets and 3.006 million nationally.

But these figures were down noticeably from last year. In fact the winner (the most important part of the program) shed 665,000 metro viewers from 2011’s 3.370 million or 19%. The auction saw a similar fall, down from 2.736 million in 2011, a fall of nearly 300,000, while the Grand Final average was off 174,000 this year from last year’s 2.309 million. Over the two hours of the final program, 2012’s audience was 9% down on last year, 2.30 million in 2012 v. 2.530 million. That’s not surprising, but the bigger fall for the winner was unusual. The program did very well in the regions with the winner averaging more than 1.1 million viewers and the auction, just over a million.

So while the actual auction of the four homes this year was far more successful (sales and higher prices) than last year’s dud, fewer people watched the event.

The first stage of the Tour de France last night averaged a solid 256,000 from 10pm on SBS ONE (and 332,000 nationally). That was far better than the second ODI between Australia and England which averaged 135,000 viewers on Gem and 225,000 nationally from 7.30pm.

Tonight: A quiet night for Nine, Ten has MasterChef, Seven has Revenge, the Tour de France is on SBS and the ABC has hours of news and current affairs. Australian Story for the second part of the Diana Bliss story. Tennis from Wimbledon on Seven and 7TWO. Rugby League on Pay TV. If anyone is interested, Nine has Tricky Business at 8pm.

Last Week: Seven may have won 28.7% to 28.6%, but Nine won the main channels and the digitals. Ten and Nine did far better in the demos than Seven. Nine clearly won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, but huge margins in Adelaide and Perth pushed Seven just ahead of Nine in the metro markets. In regional areas, Prime/7Qld won overall, but WIN/NBN won the main channels. 7TWO won the digitals. The biggest audiences on Pay TV last week were again for the NRL: the Newcastle v Wests game last Monday averaged 370,000 and the Parramatta v Newcastle game on Saturday averaged 281,000. The best AFL audience was the Carlton v Hawthorn game on Friday night with 259,000.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined):

The Block (winner announced) (Nine) — 3.809 million
The Block (auction) (Nine) — 3.464 million
The Block (Grand Final) (Nine) — 3.006 million
60 Minutes (Nine) — 2.470 million
Nine News — 2.239 million
Seven News — 2.044 million
Downton Abbey (Seven) — 1.972 million
Sunday Night (Seven) — 1.609 million
Billy Connolly’s Route 66 (Seven) — 1.400 million
MasterChef (Ten) — 1.336 million

The Metro Winners:

The Block (winner announced) (Nine (6.30pm) — 2.715 million
The Block (auction) (Nine) (6.30pm) — 2.459 million
The Block (Grand Final) (Nine) (6.30pm) — 2.145 million
60 Minutes (Nine) (8.30pm) — 1.763 million
Nine News (6pm)– 1.574 million
Seven News (6pm)– 1.425 million
Downton Abbey (Seven) (8.30pm) — 1.402 million
Sunday Night (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.096 million
MasterChef (Ten) (7.30pm) — 1.070 million

The Losers: No losers last night given the distortion caused by The Block.

Metro News & CA: Nine News won Sydney and Melbourne by big margins. Seven News won Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth by solid margins, but not enough for a national win.

60 Minutes (Nine) (8.30pm) — 1.763 million
Nine News (6pm) — 1.574 million
Seven News (6pm) — 1.425 million
Sunday Night (Seven) (6.30pm) — 1.096 million
ABC News (7pm) — 816,000
Ten News (5pm) — 506,000
The Project (Ten) (6pm) — 397,000
SBS News (6.30pm) — 191,000

In the morning:

Weekend Sunrise (Seven) (8am) — 344,000
Weekend Today (Nine) (8am) — 286,000
Landline (ABC 1, Noon – 1 pm) — 212,000
Insiders (ABC 1, 9 – 10 am) — 163,000 + 62,000 on News 24 simulcast
The Bolt Report (Ten, 10 – 10.30 am) — 163,000
Inside Business (ABC 1, 10 – 10.30 pm) — 128,000
Meet The Press (Ten, 10.30 – 11 am) — 125,000
The Bolt Report (Ten, 4.30 – 5 pm) — 125,000
Offsiders (ABC 1, 10.30 – 11 am) — 123,000

*On News 24 simulcast

Metro FTA: Nine (3 channels) won with a share of 37.7% from Seven (3) on 27.9%, Ten (3) on 16.8%, the ABC (4) was on 11.8% and SBS (2) ended on 5.8%, boosted by the TDF audience. Main Channels: Nine was an easy winner with 31.0% from Seven on 21.9%, Ten was on 12.1%, ABC 1 was on 9.2% and SBS ONE ended on 5.2%.

Metro Digital: GO won with a share of 3.9% from 7TWO on 3.1%, 7mate, Gem and Eleven were on 2.9% each; ONE ended on 1.9%, ABC 2, 1.8%, SBS TWO, 0.6%, News 24, 0.5% and ABC 3, 0.3%. The 10 digital channels had an FTA share last night of a lowish 20.8%.

Metro including Pay TV: Nine (3 channels) won with a share of 31.5% from Seven (3) on 23.3%, Ten (3) on 14.1%, as was Pay TV (200 plus channels). The ABC (4) was on 9.9% and SBS (2) ended on 4.8%. The 15 FTA channels had a total share last night of 85.9%, with the 10 digital share, 17.5% and the five main channels share, 68.4%.

The top five pay TV channels were:

Fox Footy (5.7%)
Fox Sports 3 (3.2%)
Fox Sports 2 (2.8%)
Fox 8 (2.6%)
TV 1 (2.3%)

The five most-watched programs on pay TV were:

AFL: St Kilda v North Melbourne (Fox Footy) — 266,000
NRL: Auckland v North Queensland (Fox Sports 2) — 210,000
AFL: Geelong v Port Adelaide (Fox Footy) — 204,000
Modern Family (Fox 8) — 122,000
Cricket: Australia v England (Fox Sports 3) — 117,000

Regional: WIN/NBN (3 channels) won with a share of 38.6% from prime/7Qld on 29.7%, SC Ten (3) was on 15.0%, the ABC (4) was on 11.6% and SBS (2) ended on 5.0%. The main channels saw an easy win as well for WIN/NBN with 29.5%, from Prime/7Qld on 22.4%. ABC 1 and SC Ten tied with 8.3% each. The digitals were won by GO with 4.8% from 7mate on 4.4% and 7TWO and Eleven on 3.8% each. The 10 digital channels had a high 27.0% FTA share last night.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

The Block (winner announced) (Nine (6.30pm) — 1.166 million
The Block (auction) (Nine) (6.30pm) — 1.017 million
The Block (Grand Final) (Nine) (6.30pm) — 861,000
Nine News — 666,000
Seven News — 619,000

Major Metro Markets: Nine probably hoped for a clean sweep in the five metro markets for the grand final of The Block, but it just couldn’t do it in Perth where Seven won overall and the main channels by a surprisingly clear margin. That was very much contrary to the big wins in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide and Nine. GO won the digitals in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide and shared Melbourne with 7TWO. 7mate won Perth.

(All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People)

*Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports