(Image: NSWRL)

The second Origin was a win for Nine, naturally, and New South Wales, and a series win for NSW as the next big lockdown starts. The game averaged 2.701 million — very close to game one’s 2.708 million. Metro viewers totalled 1.86 million, down from 1.9 million for game one. Regional audiences rose: 840,000 against 797,000. 

Nine’s audience share fell to 34.5% for the main channels from 37.2% for game one. Overall, Nine’s total people share was 40.9% — down from 43.3%. Both are still very solid, but it is clear Origin is no longer the super-strong rater it was three years ago.

The viewing figures were better than last year’s game two though. It had 2.43 million nationally, 1.65 million in the metros and 780,000 in the regions. But they again fell short of the 3.2 million for game one of 2019 which remains the most recent high for the series.

There was evidence of higher audiences for news programs in breakfast and evening because of the escalating COVID-19 delta crisis — between 100,000 and 150,000 depending on the time of day. Insiders added 100,000 which upped it into the national top 10 for the day at #10.

MasterChef soldiered on for 752,000 viewers and Grand Designs returned to the ABC with 720,000. Seven’s Big Brother is in its last phases.

Breakfast: Insiders, 657,000; Weekend Sunrise, 494,000; Landline, 429,000; Weekend Today, 346,000.

Regional top five: Origin game two, 840,000; Seven News, 582,000; Origin pre-match, 435,000; Nine News, 391,000; 7pm ABC News, 327,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (40.9%)
  2. Seven (21.8%)
  3. Ten (16.4%)
  4. ABC (13.7%)
  5. SBS (7.2%)


Network main channels:

  1. Nine (34.5%)
  2. Seven (14.2%)
  3. Ten (11.4%)
  4. ABC (9.6%)
  5. SBS ONE 4.8%)


Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7flix (2.8%)
  2. 7mate (2.5%)
  3. 7TWO. GO, 10 Bold (2.3%)


Top 10 national programs:

  1. State Of Origin, game two (Nine) — 2.701 million
  2. Seven News  — 1.783 million
  3. Nine News — 1.548 million
  4. State Of Origin, pre-match (Nine) — 1.441 million
  5. 7pm ABC News —1.038 million
  6. State Of Origin, post-match (Nine) — 1.024 million
  7. Seven News Spotlight — 782,000
  8. MasterChef Australia (Ten) — 752,000
  9. Grand Designs (ABC) — 720,000
  10. Insiders (ABC, ABC News)   — 657,000


Top metro programs: 

  1. State Of Origin, game two (Nine) — 1.862 million
  2. Seven News — 1.201 million
  3. Nine News — 1.157 million
  4. State Of Origin, pre-match (Nine) — 1.006 million


Losers: No one. Origin dominant, like NSW.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.201 million
  2. Nine News — 1.157 million
  3. 7pm ABC News —711,000
  4. Seven News Spotlight — 519,000
  5. Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 473,000
  6. Ten News First — 339,000
  7. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 338,000
  8. SBS World News — 216,000


Morning (national) TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC, ABC TV) — 657,000
  2. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 494,000
  3. Landline (ABC) — 429,000
  4. Weekend Today (Nine) — 346,000
  5. Offsiders (ABC) — 238,000
  6. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 217,000


Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: Carlton v Adelaide (Fox Footy) — 148,000
  2. AFL: GWS v Hawthorn (Fox Footy) — 139,000
  3. AFL: West Coast v Footscray (Fox Footy) — 124,000
  4. F1: Styria Race (Fox 506) — 98,000
  5. A League grand final (Fox Sports 505) — 82,000