The Winners: The State of Origin on Nine was of course tops with a record 2.287 million people, from Seven News with a solid 1.673 million. MasterChef Australia averaged 1.485 million from 7pm to 8pm, just in front of the half hour pre-match special on Nine from 7.30pm to just after 8pm with 1.440 million. Today Tonight was 5th with 1.438 million and Nine News was next with 1.276 million (and got no push from the State Of Origin in Sydney). A Current Affair was 7th with 1.272 million and the 7pm repeat of Two and a half Men averaged 1.271 million. Home and Away averaged 1.209 million and The Chaser at 9pm averaged 1.169 million. Spicks and Specks on the ABC averaged 1.130 million in 11th spot and the post game coverage of the original match averaged 1.108 million in Sydney and Brisbane only. The 7pm ABC News averaged 1.104 million and the Ten News averaged 1.025 million for another night in the million viewer club.

The Losers: None last night, not with the State of Origin on Nine and such a great game (even if NSW lost). Ten and Seven ran dead from 7.30pm to around 10pm to 10.30pm because of State of Origin on Nine.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Today Tonight won everywhere bar Brisbane. The 7.30 Report averaged 832,000, Lateline, 302,000, Lateline Business, 180,000. Ten’s late News/Sports Tonight, 474,000. Nine’s late News averaged 171,000. SBS News averaged 199,000, the 9.30pm news, 211,000. 7am Sunrise 351,000, 7am Today, 319,000: back to being close again.

The Stats: Nine won 6am to Midnight All People (and everything else) with 35.4% (26.3%) from Seven with 222.2% (28.4%), Ten with 21.5% (21.7%), the ABC with 16.8% (19.5%) and SBS with 4.2% (4.6%). Nine won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane; Ten won Adelaide, Seven won Perth. Nine finished 4th in Perth with the ABC in front of it. In regional area, WIN/NBN of course won for Nine with 42.1% from Prime/7Qld with 19.9%, Southern Cross (Ten) with 18.1%, the ABC with 15.1% and SBS with 4.8%. For women in the 16 top 39, 18 to 49 and 25 to 54s, MasterChef was more popular, but the Origin game was close by.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: As predictable as the sun rising and sleeping, Nine won the night with the first Rugby League State of Origin, and as predictable as taxes and everything else in our lives, the poor, eager folk who live in Brisbane, watched in record numbers, so sure were they of their destiny, which proved to be justified by the result.

They won, beating NSW, and all is right in the world, again. Of course NSW was stiffed by a NSW-based referee who forgot that with some angles, TV makes things in the picture seem bigger and closer than they really are. When Bill Harrigan, the one of two TV officials for the game, next appears in one of his ads for Lowes menswear chain, he will be appearing with a white cane and dark glasses because he needs all the help he can get.

But it was a record 2.287 million audience nationally with 971,000 watching in Sydney (not a record, that was in 2002), a record watched in Brisbane (971,000) and 328,000 watched in Melbourne in prime time live (not a record, that was a couple of years ago).

In regional areas a huge 1.118 million people watched. That took the city/regional total to almost 3.4 million people, which is the highest ever. And that didn’t measure all those watching in clubs and pubs and bars, especially along the East Coast. The audience was around that for the AFL Grand Final in the past couple of years.

And the audience figures showed no rejection of NRL as a result of those off field incidents, such as the Four Corners program and Matthew Johns and various drinking capers involving various players. How some commentators handle that significant fact will be fascinating to watch.

TONIGHT: The Footy Shows on Nine. Nine also has Getaway and 20 to 1. On the ABC, Q&A has been rested (sent to the bench for some oxygen in footy parlance). Instead there’s a wonderful documentary on the Australian painter, Sidney Nolan. Well worth a look and watch all of it. Seven has the female friendly Ghost Whisperer, then Grey’s Anatomy, then Private Practice and Heroes, tucked away at 10.30pm. SBS has Inspector Rex and Mad Men. Ten has Rules of Engagement and Worst Week from 7.30pm to 8.30pm. Worse than Home Made on Nine. Law And Order CI, and then Medium at 9.30pm. MasterChef Australia is half an hour tonight and should really go an hour because the programs at 7.30pm to 8.30pm are so awful.

And, by the way, after saying that Home Made was “in the schedule for the next three Sundays” on Monday, Nine has only taken three days to rewind that statement. It is not in the schedule Sunday nights from June 14 when Random Acts of Kindness will fill the slot at 6.30pm. So much for Nine’s statements.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports