Nine’s night because of the third State of Origin game from 7.30pm last night and no ALP leadership coup (has it really only been three weeks?), so no distractions for the audience  except the streaker in the closing minutes of the game . It was a record audience for the latest Queensland series win, which repeated the 2012 result — a record TV audience watching a very close decider (one point in 2012, two points last night). NSW blew it last night, as the blew game three of last year.

The game had a record national audience of 4.229 million (including viewers in Perth who watched the game on Gem). The metro audience was a record 2.696 million, and the regional audience was a record 1.533 million.

Audiences for the pre- and post-match coverage were also at new highs. In Brisbane the coverage gave Nine a prime time share of 61%, and 56% in Sydney. The audience in Melbourne was an all-time high of 464,000 as well and helped Nine win by almost 10 points. The higher audiences in Melbourne and regional markets helped push the national total to the new high, while Sydney and Brisbane under-performed.

The audiences in Sydney ( 1.161 million) and 865,000 in Brisbane — the two NRL heartlands, were not records, even though their main teams provided the bulk of both sides (helped by Melbourne and north Queensland). The record of just over 1.2 and 906,000 for Sydney and Melbourne respectively, set for game three of 2012, were not beaten.

Seven, Ten and the ABC hung in there — MasterChef (1.014 million national/ 747,000 metro/ 267,000 regional) and Offspring (838,000 national/ 625,000 metro/ 213,000 regional viewers) played valiantly and defended well for Ten.

And from tonight, its more sport, sport, sport — with the British Open Golf starting, the second Ashes cricket Test from Lords and the Tour de France (which ends Sunday night, along with the golf and the Test, hopefully on Monday like the first game), choices, choices, choices. Oh, and there’s also the usual  NRL and AFL games from tomorrow night through Sunday and the finals of super rugby. 

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (44.7%)
  2. Seven (20.5%)
  3. Ten (15.7%)
  4. ABC (14.0%)
  5. SBS (5.1%)

Network main channels

  1. Nine (38.3%)
  2. Seven (13.8%)
  3. Ten (11.2%)
  4. ABC1  (10.3%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.5%)

Top digital channels: 

  1. Gem, 7mate (3.6%)
  2. 7TWO (3.1%)
  3. GO (2.8%)
  4. Eleven (2.7%)
  5. ABC2 (2.4%) 

Top 10 national programs:

  1. State of Origin Game (Nine) — 4.229 million*
  2. State of Origin pre-game (Nine) — 2.825 million*
  3. State of Origin post-game (Nine) — 2.029 million*
  4. The Block (Nine)– 1.941 million
  5. Nine News — 1.918 million
  6. Seven News — 1.819 million
  7. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.401 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.349 million
  9. ABC1 News — 1.338 million
  10. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.292 million

* Includes Origin audiences on Gem in Perth. 

Top metro programs:

  1. State of Origin Game (Nine) — 2.696 million*
  2. State of Origin pre-game (Nine) — 1.810*
  3. Nine News — 1.343 million
  4. The Block (Nine) — 1.343 million
  5. Origin – post match (Nine) — 1.393 million*
  6. Seven News — 1.211 million
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.142 million
  8. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.024 million 

* Includes Origin audiences on Gem in Perth. 

Losers: No one really, except NSW and their fans and viewers.Metro news and current affairs:

  1.  Nine News — 1.343 million
  2. Seven News — 1.211 million
  3. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.142 million
  4. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.024 million
  5. ABC1 News — 902,000
  6. 7.30 (ABC1) — 657,000
  7. Ten News  — 651,000
  8. The Project (Ten) — 535,000
  9. Ten Late News — 196,000
  10. Lateline (ABC1) — 187,000 

Metro morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 348,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 326,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC1, 53,000, News 24, 34,000) – 87,000 

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8 – (2.9%)
  2. TV1, LifeStyle – (2.0%)
  3. Foxtel Movie Premiere– (1.6%)
  4. UKTV – (1.5%)
  5. Disney, Disney Jr  – (1.4%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (F ox Footy) – 89,000
  2. The Simpsons (Fox 8)– 71,000
  3. The Simpsons (Fox 8) – 62,000
  4. Phineas and Ferb (Disney Channel) – 62,000
  5. Phineas and Ferb (Disney Channel)– 60,000 

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) Plus network reports.