Real estate beats rugby - Nielsen reveals ratings for The Block final
A harsh lesson in the realities of real estate.
A harsh lesson in the realities of real estate.
The Block couples Ginny and Rhys ($11,000 profit) and Rachel and Tyson ($0) may have ended the series as virtual slave labour for Eyeworks' Julie Christie.
But there was definitely one winner on the night: TV3.
MediaWorks has released Nielsen ratings that show 1.1 million watched the final of the real estate reality show.
The number compares to the 958,340 who watched the Bledisloe Cup decider between the All Blacks and the Wallabies on August 25 (562,850 on Sky, 395,490 on Prime).
The real estate reality show two hour finale had an average 5+ audience of 491,600 with viewership peaking at 628,500 in the final 15 minutes of live auctions.
The houses, on busy Anzac Street in Tapapuna, were renovated over a nine-week period.
The winning pair, siblings Ben and Libby Crawford, clinching the competition because their house made the most profit. Their house, the first one on the block, sold for $961,000, with a reserve of $804,000. The successful bidders plan to turn the house into an office for their accounting business.
As well as pocketing the $157,000 profit they made, they also received an $80,000 bonus for winning.
The remainder of the auction was an excellent lesson in the realities of real estate - if maybe not the one Bunnings and other sponsors would have wanted.
Richard Boobyer and Sarah Adams' house sold for $870,000, earning the couple a $64,000 profit.
Ginny Death and Rhys Wineera's house sold for $805,000, $11,000 above the reserve.
Tyson Hill and Rachel Rasch saw their house sell for the reserve $798,000 in the final auction, earning them nothing.
Realestate.co.nz says the adjusted median house price for Takapuna (taking out the top and bottom 10%) is around $840,000 to $850,000).