Rugby League, or rather its State of Origin showcase last night cemented its position as a national sporting event, rivalling the AFL Grand Final. In fact the audience for the AFL will have difficulty matching 4.177 million for last night’s second and deciding Origin game unless the Sydney Swans are in the game in September (the 2005, 2006 and 2012 AFL grand final audiences (when Sydney played), are the three highest rating AFL games in history).

Origin’s second record breaking game in a row meant it was easily Nine’s night. The second State of Origin Rugby league game saw Nine win nationally, metro and regionally. Brisbane had a record audience, Sydney and Melbourne went close to the all time highs set in Game 1 and Nine won Perth with the Origin broadcast for the first time where the game was broadcast on Gem, which outrated Nine’s main channel. The game had a record 4.177 million people watching nationally, with a record 2.682 million who watched in the five metro markets and a record 1.495 who watched in regional markets. These figures include the 155,000 who watched the game on Gem in Perth (119,000) and in regional areas of WA (36,000).

Nine’s audience in the five metro markets topped the record set for Game 1 (played in Brisbane on May 28). It also topped the record for regional markets set in Game 1 this year, but the Sydney audience of 1.199 million was under the record 1.237 million who watched Game 1. The Brisbane audience returned with a record 857,000 people watching (topping the previous high of 809,000 for Game 3 in 2011). The Melbourne audience of 418,000 was the second highest behind the record 431,000 for Game 1.

Seven was a weak second, as expected, Ten was third and the ABC a distant fourth. Ten’s MasterChef Australia had 1.159 million national viewers, while Offspring had 1.038 million national viewers, which was pretty good considering the record audience watching Nine. Nine’s Today had another weak morning with 264,000 metro viewers against Sunrise’s 321,000

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (45.8%)
  2. Seven (20.3%)
  3. Ten (17.5%)
  4. ABC (13.0%)
  5. SBS (3.5%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (38.2%)
  2. Seven (12.5%)
  3. Ten (12.4%)
  4. ABC1  (8.3%)
  5. SBS ONE (2.9%)

Top digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (4.7%)
  2. Gem (4.0%)
  3. GO (3.6%)
  4. ABC 2 (3.2%)
  5. 7mate, Eleven (3.1%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1.  State of Origin Game 2 (Nine) – 4.177 million
  2. State of Origin post-match (Nine) — 2.956 million
  3. State of Origin pre-match (Nine) — 2.694 million
  4. Nine News — 1.630 million
  5. Seven News — 1.581 million
  6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.360 million
  7. The Big Bang Theory repeat (Nine) — 1.271 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.217 million
  9. ABC News — 1.162 million
  10. MasterChef Australia (Ten) — 1.159 million

Top metro programs:

  1. State of Origin Game 2 (Nine) – 2.718 million
  2. State of Origin post-match (Nine) — 1.928 million
  3. State of Origin pre-match (Nine) — 1.806 million
  4. Seven News — 1.206 million
  5. Nine News — 1.154 million
  6. Nine News 6.30 — 1.082 million
  7. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.041 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.013 million

Losers: No one really, not with a monster like the State of Origin on Nine. It ate the night.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.206 million
  2. Nine News — 1.154 million
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.082 million
  4. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 1.041 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.013 million
  6. ABC News – 810,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC1) — 679,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 640,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 614,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 418,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 321,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 264,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 166,00
  4. News Breakfast (ABC 1  76,000 + 36,000 on News 24) — 112,000
  5. Mornings (Nine) — 100,000
  6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 54,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8  (2.4%)
  2. TVHITS!  (2.%)
  3. LifeStyle  (1.9%)
  4. Crime & Investigation (1.3%)
  5. Fox Classics (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 84,000
  2. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 82,000
  3. Top 20 Funniest (Fox 8) – 68,000
  4. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 67,000
  5. AFL: Bounce (Fox 8) – 63,000

*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.) and network reports.