Lego Masters: Nine builds ratings juggernaut

Nine has scored big with its Lego show, with a record 2 million-plus viewers tuning in to the finale.

LEGO Masters winners Henry & Cade with host Hamish Blake and ‘Brickman’ Ryan McNaught. Picture: Supplied

Nine Network has scored big with its new Lego building competition show, Lego Masters, with a record 2 million-plus viewers tuning in to watch two fathers take the top prize last night.

The episode, which saw Henry and Cade crowned winners of the inaugural three-week series and $100,000 in prizemoney, was the number one show on commercial free-to-air television last night, with the finale in second spot.

The crowning episode attracted around 500,000 more national viewers than Monday and Sunday’s episodes, which was watched by around 1.49 and 1.54 million around the country, respectively.

It was watched by 1.49 million people across the five metropolitan cities, which is the figure that comes under scrutiny by most advertising executives.

Lego Masters, hosted by comedian and radio star Hamish Blake, has helped Nine extend its lead in the 2019 television rating battle following the recent success of its reality dating show Married At First Sight.

Lego Masters was hosted by Hamish Blake. Picture: Supplied

However, Lego Masters only ran for three weeks, in contrast to MAFS, which ran for nearly three months. Nine plans to slot singing competition show The Voice into its evening programming.

The finale of Lego Masters attracted around 1.7 million national viewers, and 1.2 million in the major cities, according to figures from OzTam.

The third most popular program last night was Seven’s evening news, which attracted about 1.6 million viewers around the country, and more than 1 million across the major cities.

The shows that were directly up against Lego Masters on free-to-air TV, Seven’s House Rules and Ten’s MasterChef, were watched by 898,000 and 804,000 across the country, respectively. House Rules was the 12th most watched program, with MasterChef in 13th spot.

Henry and Cade’s Lego creation, a diorama of Poseidon, beat David and G’s theme-park build and Jordan and Miller’s space battle in the final, which was judged by Ryan McNaught (aka Brickman) and Fenella Charity, a senior design manager from Lego’s Denmark headquarters, plus 250 members of the public.

Ahead of the finale, Nine announced on Sunday that Lego Masters will be back for a second season next year.