Glenn Dyer's TV Ratings, Oct 30, 2017

The Block did the job for Nine last night — as we all knew it would — the 2017 series injecting new life into a format that had been fading for years. A huge audience by any measure for the winner’s announcement — 3.47 million nationally and the highest since the Glass house series back in 2014 when the winner’s announcement averaged 3.35 million. 2.46 million watched in the announcement in the metros and 1.01 million in the regionals.

The big surprise from yesterday was the 2017 high for Insiders — 629,000 national viewers — 446,000 on the ABC’s main channel and 183,000 on News 24. That cements Insiders as the most watched program in daytime TV — including breakfast. Why? Well the High Court decisions on Friday on the Cit 7 – the Barney Joyce debacle and the lingering spat over the National’s objections to Julie Bishop being activity PM while Malcolm Turnbull is away in Israel. And Insiders cleaned up yesterday, including a Huw Parkinson classic on Tony Abbott’s Never Ending Story. It ended with the wonderful exchange from Senate Estimates showing Pauline Hanson all at sea on submarines — and the astonishment that they can travel underwater for longer than 20 minutes. In fact, you might say Hanson (who is now on a trip to India with a Federal Parliamentary delegation and will miss the first week of the Queensland state poll) was shown to be literally out of her depth.

Insiders continues until December 10 — the 3rd will allow the wrap of the New England by-election, the 10th no doubt the usual end of year wrap with a Huw Parkinson special to send us all off to Christmas and New Year with a smile. Some ABC programs are already ending — Gardening Australia next Saturday, for example. In regional markets The Block winners averaged 1.01 million people, The Block Grand Final averaged 832,000, 60 Minutes averaged 507,000, Seven News, 448,000 and Doc Martin, 441,000.

Network channel share: