Finally some good news for Channel Nine.
The first episode of The Block performed well, pulling 1.34m viewers across its 7-8pm timeslot last night. That’s up on the 1.04m that The Big Bang Theory attracted last Monday (a public holiday) and well up on what it usually averages at around 900,000 or less.
In its new home city of Melbourne the show pulled out a huge 523,000 viewers ahead of Sydney (365,000) and Brisbane (228,000). The show peaked at 1.72m and was also stronger in its second half hour than its first.
Because it stretched for an hour, head to head battles are difficult to assess, but at 7pm Home And Away (1.16m), ABC News (988,000), and The 7PM Project (724,000) all trailed.
MasterChef (1.68m) won its slot at 7:30pm ahead of The Block and new Big Bang Theory (1.31m), No Ordinary Family (766,000), 7:30 / Australian Story (755,000 / 791,000) and Mythbusters (320,000).
The Amazing Race Australia (1.21m) won at 8:30pm over Come Fly With Me (1.03m), Offspring (995,000),
Four Corners / Media Watch (629,000 / 615,000) and Man Vs Wild (217,000).
The first of two Rescue Special Ops episodes was 684,000.
The one hour premiere of The Block even helped Nine to win Monday night, which is timed nicely when there is so much riding on the new show.
From tonight it settles into its half hour slot (Thursday is another hour) and it is not until the end of the week when the final 4 contestants get their first glimpse of the 4 houses they will renovate. In that sense, the more familiar format viewers will recognise gets underway.
