State of Origin Game 3 last night. Ill mannered and mean spirited, and that was the after game performance by the winning NSW team (and at times the Queenslanders were just as churlish with their on field antics). Weak football in many respects with Queensland also not really wanting to be there having won the first two games and NSW wanting to win at all costs to send captain Paul Gallen off into retirement on a winning (and whining) note.

Viewers must have sensed it would be an unattractive game (certainly for people in the main market of NSW, it was going to be a very boring until that last minute “try) so they tuned out in their hundreds of thousands. Not helping audience numbers was the change of regional affiliates for Nine, from the long time NRL-supporting WIN, to Southern Cross the old Ten affiliate with a smaller footprint and almost no interest in NRL.

So the national audience of 3.064 million was the lowest in six years (since Game 3 of the 2010 series) while the metro audience of 2.11 million was the lowest since Game 2 in the 2008 series. The regional audience of just 953,000 was the lowest so far measured (and records go back to 2003 under the present electronic rating system). That has a lot to do with the change of Nine’s regional affiliation deal from June 30. It means we will probably won’t see a record audience for years to come. That was 4.194 million for Game 3 of the 2013 series. So looked at another way, last night’s audience was 1.13 million lower than that record, and given NSW’s performance in this series and last year, that is understandable, even before the impact of the change of regional affiliate for Nine.

Mad As Hell was a far better program to watch. At least there was humour and a point to the program, unlike for much of what I saw in the Origin game. Shaun Micallef looks more Prime Ministerial with each passing program. Made As Hell managed to grab 807,000 national viewers.

And Masterchef Australia stood out for Ten with a solid effort against the faded glory that was Origin 3 – it managed to hold on to 1.3 million national viewers. And a good part of those hung around for Nina and her latest antics — 926,000 nationally — which was also pretty good going. In the morning Today won for a second morning with 318,000 metro viewers to 294,000 for Sunrise. Sunrise won nationally.

Tonight: The AFL Grand Final two and a half months early? Hawks v the Swans, though at the SCG and not the MCG.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (40.2%)
  2. Seven (21.2%)
  3. Ten (17.5%)
  4. ABC (14.5%)
  5. SBS (6.6%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (32.9%)
  2. Ten (13.9%)
  3. Seven (13.6%)
  4. ABC (9.8%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.7%)

Top 5 digital channels:

  1. 7TWO, GO (3.6%)
  2. ABC 2, 7mate (2.9%)
  3. Gem (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. State of Origin Game 3 – match (Nine) — 3.064 million
  2. State of Origin Game 3 – pre-match (Nine) — 1.920 million
  3. Seven News — 1.794 million
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.534 million
  5. Nine News — 1.463 million
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.334 million
  7. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.309 million
  8. ABC News — 1.282 million
  9. State of Origin Game 3 – post-match (Nine) — 1.277 million
  10. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.242 million

Top metro programs:

  1. State of Origin Game 3 – match (Nine) — 2.111 million
  2. State of Origin Game 3 – pre-match (Nine) — 1.2850 million
  3. Seven News — 1.157 million
  4. Nine News — 1.109 million
  5. Nine News 6.30 — 1.077 million
  6. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.036 million

Losers: No one really in the viewing audience (Well, Queensland supporters of their Origin team). NSW fans and players for the team’s churlish after game celebrations.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.157 million
  2. Nine News — 1.109 million
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 1.077 million
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.036 million
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 953,000
  6. ABC News – 864,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 726,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 688,000
  9. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 581,000
  10. Ten Eyewitness News — 508,000

Morning TV:

  1. Today (Nine) – 318,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) – 294,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 189,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC,  110,000 + 51,000 on News 24) — 161,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 134,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 95,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. TVHITS  (1.9%)
  2. LifeStyle, Sky News, Fox 8  (1.7%)
  3.  Nick Jr (1.6%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: 360 (Fox Sports 1) — 72,000
  2. AFL: 360 (Fox Footy) – 68,000
  3. Alvinnn!!!! And The Chipmunks (Nick Jr) — 61,000
  4. Family Guy (Fox8) — 58,000
  5. Blaze And The Monster Machines (Nick Jr) — 54,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2016. 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.