Seven’s My Kitchen Rules finished it first season last night with Queensland couple Veronica & Shadi taking out first place and $100,000 in prize money over Victoria’s Clint & Noah.
The real winners of the series, however, was the Seven Network. Last night 1.525 millions viewers tuned in to watch the final that finished just after 9:10pm. The show did not just rate well in its final outing but also had a strong season average of  1.338 million viewers, hence the show is coming back for a second season. For the record it appears that Perth numbers were down due to widespread blackouts across the city. Last week 163,000 watched Tuesday’s My Kitchen Rules episode compared with 51,000 watching last night.
According to Seven, last night’s Grand Final episode had a 49.0% amongst grocery buyer viewers and a key 43.7% amongst 25-54 year olds, which is the main target of advertisers on television.
This demographic breakdown will be good news for the show’s sponsors Breville, The Coffee Club, Electrolux, Raco, Subaru and Tourism Australia. No doubt their message has been successfully marketed to an average of 1.338 million viewers, twice a week, for the last eight weeks.  This will also give Seven confidence that it can attract more sponsors for the next season, in much the same way Ten has for the new season of Masterchef.
Last year, Ten sold Masterchef sponsorships to Coles and Campbells at $1.3 million each. This year, according to the Australian Financial Review, Ten has already signed Telstra, Fonterra, SCA Hygiene, Coles, Campbells, Sunbeam and two other companies to the show on either a “tier one” sponsorship priced at $3 million or a “tier two” sponsorship valued at $2 million. A function will be held tonight to launch the second series to media buyers.
As consumers become more alert of invasive advertising during commercial breaks, brand alliance through corporate sponsorship of television programs and networks will become more pervasive. One just has to remember last year the Seven Network’s ident involving Cadbury chocolate.
Whether it is the contestants on My Kitchen Rules sipping a coffee from ‘The Coffee Club’ mug after after cooking a three course meal or those in Masterchef using Campbells’ salt reduced chicken stock, these shows are not only providing a vehicle for corporate groups to market their brands to the masses but the shows are rating as well.
No wonder both the Seven & Ten networks are keen to have these key ‘brand’ reality shows airing more than once a year. Not only does Seven & Ten’s audience love the shows but so do corporate sponsors keen to get their message out to the audience every episode.