Married At First Sight is arguably the most talked about Aussie show in years. 

But the impact of MAFS goes beyond just spawning memes and water cooler chatter, with finance journalist Alan Kohler crediting it for Channel's Nine's advantageous $4 billion Fairfax merger. 

Kohler, who is the editor-at-large for The Australian Business Review, wrote in The Australian this week: 'This rather bizarre show is actually the reason this takeover of Fairfax is happening at all.' 

'This rather bizarre show is actually the reason this takeover of Fairfax is happening at all!'  Married At First Sight has been credited for Channel Nine's $4 billion Fairfax merger

The 66-year-old goes on to explain how MAFS dethroned Channel Seven's ratings juggernaut My Kitchen Rules this year, 'thereby ­producing a 50 per cent lift in Nine's share price after the interim results were released in February.' 

The ratings win boosted Nine's market cap from $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion, surpassing Fairfax's $1.7 billion and allowing Nine to have more than 50 per cent of the merged company. 

Nine and Fairfax announced their $4 billion merger this week, with Nine shareholders owning 51.1 per cent of the combined entity, while Fairfax shareholders are left with the remaining 48.9 per cent. 

Success: MAFS helped boost Nine's market cap from $1.4 billion to $2.1 billion, surpassing Fairfax and leading to an advantageous merger for Nine

Nine CEO Mark Hughes acknowledged the impact that MAFS has had on business, telling The Australian: 'To be able to beat My Kitchen Rules at the top of the year and be very competitive has made a huge difference for the momentum for us across the whole year.' 

The season five finale of Married At First Sight is currently the most-watched non-sports program of the year in Australia, pulling in a staggering 2.4 million national viewers. 

The show's success has allowed Nine to become the No.  1 network across all advertiser-friendly demographics, pushing Nine's revenue higher than rival Seven - despite Seven's overall higher ratings. 

Did you watch?  The season five finale of Married At First Sight is currently the most-watched non-sports program of the year in Australia, pulling in a staggering 2.4 million national viewers

Married At First Sight's blockbuster ratings were so big that they also boosted several other programs on Nine. 

According to news.com.au, Today was briefly able to defeat rivals Sunrise in the breakfast ratings war thanks to a MAFS-related boost, as Today regularly interviewed MAFS stars and covered the show's latest controversies. 

Once MAFS was finished, Sunrise immediately returned to the top spot. 

The MAFS effect!  Married At First Sight was so successful that it even boosted Today's ratings, briefly allowing the breakfast show to beat rival Sunrise

'To be able to beat My Kitchen Rules at the top of the year and be very competitive has made a huge difference for the momentum for us across the whole year,' said Nine's CEO Mark Hughes

MAFS also delivered 'tremendous growth' to Channel Nine's women's website, 9Honey, and also drove significant traffic to Nine's streaming platform 9Now, where episodes received between 200,000-300,000 views each. 

On top of that, it had the 'highest All Series social media activity of any major television program in 2018,' while the MAFS after show Talking Married is currently 9Life's highest-rating program of all time. 

'Married at First Sight is now the dominant player among the ratings year launch formats,' Nine's Program Director Hamish Turner told Mediaweek in March. 

'Married at First Sight is now the dominant player among the ratings year launch formats,' Nine's Program Director Hamish Turner told Mediaweek in March

'It has led the national conversation and seen off all challengers, in the process delivering fantastic audience growth for Nine.' 

Married At First Sight's domination started in 2017, when the show was 'supersized.' 

The episode number was quadrupled, more couples were added, and the format was changed to mine more drama from the contestants by adding weekly commitment ceremonies and contentious dinner parties. 

Flashback: In its first three seasons, MAFS was a raw, observational documentary with between 6 and 8 episodes per season

Upgrade!  MAFS was 'supersized' in 2017, adding more couples and episodes, and introducing elements like dramatic dinner parties and commitment ceremonies

Speaking about Married At First Sight's success compared to other dating programs, executive-producer Tara McWilliams told Mediaweek earlier this year that it was all about authenticity. 

'There is always a concern too much of one genre will make the audience tired of it and they will start to drop off,' she said. ' But Married is very different from the other ones.' 

'There is a similarity between Bachelor In Paradise and Love Island, but Married is certainly the most organic of all the shows.  The way we make it is more like an observational documentary.  These people are here for love.'