New South Wales' victory over Queensland in the State Of Origin "has given the Nine network a record ratings win," according to Scott Ellis of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. Nine scored the biggest TV audience of the year and the biggest audience for the game "since Oz Tam ratings began in 2001." About 2.7 million people "watched game two of the historic series (that is for five metro cities, plus Gem in Perth) to push the broadcast into the number one position for the year" (SMH, 6/19). In Sydney, Michael Bodey reported the audience figure comprised 2.563 million viewers on Nine, including 1.199 million in Sydney, 857,000 in Brisbane and 418,000 in Melbourne, and 119,000 viewers for the match on Nine’s GEM multichannel in Perth. Including regional viewers "the figure rose" to 4.193 million viewers, peaking at 4.751 million. Audience records for Origin continue to tumble since Nine "has begun broadcasting the game in all markets after decades of not broadcasting and then delaying the telecast into non-league states" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 6/19). Also in Sydney, Darren Cartwright reported the post-match segment attracted 1.897 million viewers and the pre-match segment had an audience of 1.747 million. Nothing else "got the close for the night" (AAP, 6/19).
