NSW Origin blowout sees viewer drop

NSW might have won the second State Of Origin game convincingly (38-6) but Nine went all shy in its Monday morning brag and forgot to mention the 12%-plus slide in audiences from the first game. Game one averaged 3.20 million nationally; last night’s rain- and wind-swept match averaged 2.79 million — a difference of 403,000. 

Nine had a main channel share of 34.2% against 39.0% for game one — another sign of the weak response from viewers, especially in the heartlands of Sydney, Brisbane, regional Queensland and NSW. None of those regions had a million or more viewers last night. That is a noticeable thumbs-down from the core audience for a game that promised a lot. Nine can hope for a bigger audience for the third and deciding game early in July, at least with NSW viewers.

House Rules on Seven held up with 1.14 million, as did MasterChef on Ten with 803,000. In the morning Insiders saw another dip in audience numbers two weeks after Barrie Cassidy finished — 546,000 in total nationally, down from 588,000 the previous Sunday. In the Women’s World Cup, the Matildas’ loss to Norway on penalties averaged 310,000 on SBS.

Network channel share:

1. Nine (39.8%)
2. Seven (26.7%)
3. Ten (14.6%)
4. ABC (13.7%)
5. SBS (5.4%)

Network main channels:

1. Nine (34.2%)
2. Seven (17.2%)
3. TEN (10.2%)
4. ABC (9.8%)
5. SBS ONE (3.7%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

1. 7mate (4.8%)
2. 10 Bold (2.8%)
3. 7TWO (2.5%)
4. ABC Kids/Comedy (2.4%)
5. Gem (2.1%)

Top 10 national programs:

1. Origin 2 – Game (Nine) — 2.799 million
2. Seven News — 1.675 million
3. Origin 2 – Pre-Match (Nine) — 1.642 million
4. Nine/NBN News — 1.395 million
5. Origin 2 – Post-Match (Nine) — 1.106 million
6. House Rules (Seven) — 1.146 million
7. 7pm ABC News — 1.051 million
8. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 803,000
9. Shetland (ABC) — 753,000
10. Harrow (ABC) — 708,000

Top metro programs:

1. Origin 2 – Game (Nine) — 1.960 million
2. Origin 2 – Pre-Match (Nine) — 1.169 million
3. Seven News — 1.137 million
4. Nine News — 1.020 million

Metro news and current affairs:

1. Seven News — 1.137 million
2. Nine News — 1.020 million
3. 7pm ABC News — 703,000
4. The Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 457,000
5. Sunday Night (Seven) — 422,000
6. 10 News First — 266,000
7. The Sunday Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 268,000
8. SBS World News — 112,000

Morning (National) TV:

1. Insiders (ABC, ABC News) — 546,000
2. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 459,000
3. Landline (ABC) — 430,000
4. Weekend Today (Nine) —297,000
5. Offsiders (ABC, ABC News) — 244,000
6. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 222,000

Top five pay TV programs:

1. AFL: Western Bulldogs v Collingwood (Fox Footy) — 264,000
2. AFL: Bounce (Fox Footy) —115,000
3. F1: France Race  (Fox Sports) — 95,000
4. WTA All Access (beIn Sport 3) — 69,000
5. AFL: Sunday Footy On Fox (Fox Footy) — 68,000