With the first game of the 2018 State of Origin on Nine last night, nothing else got a look in. NSW won, but the ratings were the lowest for three years — 3.45 million on average watched the game nationally, against 3.52 million last year and the all time high of 3.95 million in 2016 when NSW won the first game and series. That was a fall of more than 12%. Interestingly the peak audience (people watching at least a minute of the game) was 3.89 million — that’s less than the average (viewers who watch the game from start to end) of the 2016 3.95 million high. That tells us that some of the bloom has gone off Origin, especially in the heartland markets of Sydney and Brisbane.

The Sydney audience last night was 985,000, down 4,000 from last year and a sharp 17% lower than the 1.19 million who watched the first game of the 2016 series, while in Brisbane, 765,000 watched lower than the 808,000 in 2017 and 809,000 in 2016. Nine of course won all the demos and the night — the game rated more highly among 16 to 39 viewers (51.6% of the audience) than any other demo. 

On the ABC, Julia Zemiro’s Home Delivery averaged a solid 826,000 in the face of the start of Origin. Masterchef was solid with 959,000 viewers. Seven bowed to the might of Origin and rested House Rules in Sydney and Brisbane and regional Queensland and most of NSW —  it’s on tonight.

In regional markets the Origin game was tops with 1.10 million, Seven News was second with 602,000, the Origin pre-match was next with 583,000. Fourth was Seven News/Today Tonight with 504,000, and the 5.30pm bit of The Chase Australia was fifth with 415,000

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (46.0%)
  2. Seven (19.6%)
  3. Ten (15.0%)
  4. ABC (14.4%)
  5. SBS (5.0%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine 39.3%)
  2. Seven (12.3%)
  3. Ten (10.9%)
  4. ABC (10.7%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.5%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO, GO (3.4%)
  2. ABC Kids/Comedy, 7mate, Eleven (2.2%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. State of Origin Game 1 (Nine) — 3.456 million
  2. State of Origin Game 1 Pre – Match (Nine) — 1.710 million
  3. Seven News  — 1.602 million
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.439 million
  5. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.346 million
  6. Nine/NBN News — 1.282 million
  7. State of Origin Game 1 Post – Match (Nine) — 1.114 million
  8. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.049 million
  9. 7pm ABC News — 1.045 million
  10. Masterchef (Ten) — 959,000

Top metro programs:

  1. State of Origin Game 1 (Nine) — 2.356 million
  2. State of Origin Game 1 Pre-Match (Nine) — 1.127 million
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.0067 million
  4. Seven News — 1.000 million

Losers: Queensland.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News 6.30 — 1.0067 million
  2. Seven News — 1.000 million
  3. Nine News — 976,000
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 935,000
  5. 7pm ABC News – 777,000
  6. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 591,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 581,000
  8. Ten Eyewitness News — 434,000
  9. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 361,000
  10. SBS World News — 143,000

Morning (national) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 446,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 360,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC, ABC News 24) — 231,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 215,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 170,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 78,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) — 87,000
  2. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) —59,000
  3. NRL Tonight (Fox League, Paw Patrol (Nick Jr) — 52,000
  4. Paw Patrol X 2 (Nick Jr) — 47,000