- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
State of Origin has received the highest television audience in its history, with more than 2.5 million people tuning in last night.
Game I in Melbourne commanded the biggest audience the series has received since the introduction of OzTam measurement. It was watched by a metro total people audience of 2.51 million (up 10.55% from 2011), peaking at 2.84 million.
Origin went on across capital cities on Nine last night with 1.15 million watching in Sydney, 906,000 in Brisbane and 313,000 in Melbourne.
It was the best Game I overall audience result ever, the best Game I audience in Brisbane ever and the second best Game I audience in Sydney ever.
Nine obviously wants to keep the NRL rights and pushed its coverage hard with live broadcast around the country.
The media build-up to the series opener was huge and the anticipation of NSW potentially breaking Queensland’s six-year dominance surely helped the result. NSW put up a spirited display but ultimately fell short with the Maroons winning 18-10.
The drama on the field would have also lured in potential viewers and will help levels for Games II and III stay high.
There was a brawl, a sin-binning, a see-sawing scoreline and a controversial refereeing decision on a late try. These have given the media a feeding frenzy today to pick over today, and the build-up to the second game should also be big.
This ground-breaking ratings result will be welcomed heartily by the Rugby League Commission as they negotiate for an improved TV rights deal.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.