In a bid to woo viewers to the new season of its hit show The Block Glasshouse last night, Nine network simultaneously broadcast the second episode on all three of its free-to-air channels.

According to a report in The Age, Nine, Gem and Go all featured the episode, a strategy known in the industry as “roadblocking”.

Roadblocking involves screening the exact same content across all stations in order to increase overall audience numbers.

However, the decision to multi-broadcast the show was a late one according to the report, as television guides showed Gem as screening television series Absolutely Fabulous and Go showing the 2011 film Arthur.

Frustrated by the onslaught of the reality renovation show, viewers took to Twitter to bemoan the roadblocking experience.

So #TheBlock is running on all three of Nine’s channels tonight… I take it they want people to watch it…

— Matthew Denby (@MrMattDenby) July 27, 2014

So pissed off with #gem for replacing #absolutelyfabulous with #theblock

— Beck Ali (@becksmodernlife) July 27, 2014

The strategy appeared to pay off, however, with the show topping the ratings with an audience of 1.37 million in the five major capital cities.