The first State of Origin game on a Sunday night since 2001 may have been a big hit, but well under Game one’s figures. Sydney on a Sunday night, despite what we might think in the Blue City, was not a ratings knock out; falling to 880,000 against 885,000 for game one. For all the publicity about the new look team coach and game one victory, that should have been much higher.

Game two averaged 3.16 million nationally down from 3.45 million nationally for game one. So a success, but not the smash that game one was. Interestingly Seven’s House Rules averaged 1.4 million, its best Sunday audience. The last half of House Rules ran up against the first half of Origin. Seven rested House Rules in NRL markets for Game one,  but not last night — an interesting approach that paid off.

Yes, the World Cup was on SBS, but coverage of England v Panama didn’t start until past 9.30pm. And the ratings show it had no impact until 9.45pm when the Origin game ended. Origin topped regional figures with 1.04 million followed by the Origin Post Match with 605,000, then Seven’s 6pm News with 599,000. the Origin Pre-Match was 4th with 566,000 and House Rules was a solid fifth with 520,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (39.1%)
  2. Seven (24.8%)
  3. Ten (13.9%)
  4. ABC (11.7%)
  5. SBS (10.5%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (32.6%)
  2. Seven (16.7%)
  3. Ten (10.2%)
  4. SBS ONE (9.3%)
  5. ABC (8.6%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (4.3%)
  2. GO (2.8%)
  3. 7TWO (2.4%)
  4. Gem (2.1%)
  5. ONE (2.0%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. State of Origin Game 2 (Nine) — 3.163 million
  2. State of Origin Game 2 Post Match (Nine) — 1.761 million
  3. Seven News  — 1.759 million
  4. State of Origin Game 2 Pre-Match (Nine) — 1.634 million
  5. Nine/NBN News — 1.468 million
  6. House Rules (Seven) — 1.414 million
  7. 7pm ABC News — 1.058 million
  8. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 922,000
  9. Mystery Road (ABC) — 798,000
  10. Sunday Night repeat (Seven) — 791,000

Top metro programs:

  1. State of Origin Game 2 (Nine) — 2.123 million
  2. Seven News — 1.160 million
  3. State of Origin Game 2 Post Match (Nine) — 1.156 million
  4. State of Origin Game 2 Pre-Match (Nine) — 1.068 million
  5. Nine News — 1.067 million

Losers: No one – the second Origin game was the great disruptor.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.160 million
  2. Nine News — 1.067 million
  3. 7pm ABC News – 695,000
  4. Sunday Night repeat (Seven) — 496,000
  5. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 464,000
  6. Ten Eyewitness News — 335,000
  7. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 261,000
  8. SBS World News — 195,000

Morning (National )TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC, ABC News) — 487,000
  2. Landline (ABC) — 407,000
  3. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 388,000
  4. Weekend Today (Nine) — 333,000
  5. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 233,000
  6. Offsiders (ABC) — 205,000

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL:Collingwood v Carlton  (Fox Footy) — 324,000
  2. AFL: Bounce (Fox Footy) — 141,000
  3. AFL: Sunday Footy on Fox (Fox Footy) — 116,000
  4. F1: The French GP  (Fox Sports) — 95,000
  5. NRL: NRL Tonight – Origin edition (Fox League) — 65,000