First State of Origin clash draws record audience for Nine
Nine’s coverage of the first State of Origin match up drew a record 2.708m metro viewers who watched the Queensland maroons grind out a tight 6-4 win against the NSW Blues at ANZ stadium.
That time adjusted result means the game was highest rating State of Origin match of all time and was well up on last year’s telecast where State of Origin I drew 2.432m viewers and helped ensure Nine won the night with a main channel audience share of 38%. The match was broadcast on the main channel in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide and Gem in Perth.
According to the Oztam preliminary ratings, the pre match broadcast was viewed by 1.737m on the main channel, while 1.420m people stuck around to watch the post match broadcast which does not take into account out of home viewing in pubs and clubs.
The State of Origin is always one of the most watched TV events of the year and was the most watched program in Sydney (1.19m), Brisbane (809,000) and Melbourne (494,000).
Outside of Origin and the news, Ten’s Masterchef was the most watched general entertainment show with 897,000 viewers, fourth behind the Origin broadcasts in all the demographics.
At 8.30pm Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell drew 505,000 for ABC but was beaten by Ten’s Shark Tank which had 539,000.
In news Seven News won the 6pm bulletins with 1.122m, compared with 1.094m for Nine, but then Nine News won the 6.30pm bulletin with 1.086m compared with 995,000.
With Nine dominating the main channel audience shares the other commercial networks were down with Seven on a 13.5% share, Ten 13.2% and the ABC 8.4%.
