Last night’s State of Origin II clash saw 2.616m metro viewers tune in to watch NSW race to victory over Queensland, meaning the third match will now be the series decider, handing Nine an easy win with an audience share of 38.7 per cent.

It was up on game one which saw 2.432m metro viewers tune in, while last year’s second game was watched by 2.563m. The total audience figure accounts for the 134,000 Perth viewers who watched the game on Gem.

The pre-match broadcast drew 1.488m metro viewers across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, with 1.055m viewers from those cities sticking around for the post-match broadcast.

The State of Origin game was the most-watched show across the key advertising demographics (16-39, 18-49 and 25-54).

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While it was the most watched show in Sydney (1.096m), Brisbane (812,000) and Melbourne (491,000) it was only the eighth most popular thing on TV in Adelaide (83,000), and was relegated to multichannel Gem in Perth where it was was watched by 134,000 there.

Meanwhile on Ten, Masterchef grabbed 875,000 metro viewers, down on last week’s audience of 1.045m. The evening of State of Origin I, back in May, saw the reality cooking show grab 937,000 metro viewers.

In terms of audience share, Seven claimed second place with a share of 12.9 per cent, as Ten managed 11.9 per cent. The ABC settled for a share of 9.5 per cent.

Seven’s Home and Away, airing from 7pm to 8.30, was watched by 750,000 while Criminal Minds, on at 8.30pm, pulled in 529,000.

Ten’s Madam Secretary, also in the 8.30pm timeslot, had an audience of 455,000.

On the ABC, 7.30pm was watched by 636,000, QI (8pm) grabbed 463,000 viewers and The Weekly with Charlie Pickering (8.30pm) pulled 500,000.

In news, Nine News at 6pm was watched by 1.170m, dipping to 1.147m from 6.30pm. Seven News at 6pm had an audience of 916,000, sliding to 911,000 from 6.30pm.

Top 15 Shows:

1 STATE OF ORIGIN RUGBY LEAGUE QLD V NSW 2ND – MATCH Network 9 2,481,000

2 STATE OF ORIGIN RUGBY LEAGUE QLD V NSW 2ND – PRE MATCHNetwork 9 1,488,000

3 NINE NEWS Network 9 1,170,000

4 NINE NEWS 6:30 Network 9 1,147,000

5 STATE OF ORIGIN RUGBY LEAGUE QLD V NSW 2ND – POST MATCHNetwork 9 1,055,000

6 A CURRENT AFFAIR Network 9 1,045,000

7 SEVEN NEWS Network 7 916,000

8 SEVEN NEWS / TODAY TONIGHT Network 7 911,000

9 ABC NEWS-EV Network ABC 876,000

10 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA WED Network TEN 875,000

11 HOME AND AWAY Network 7 750,000

12 HOT SEAT Network 9 651,000

13 THE PROJECT 7PM Network TEN 647,000

14 7.30-EV Network ABC 636,000

15 FAMILY FEUD Network TEN 605,000

Audience Share:

Network 9 38.7%

Network 7 12.9%

Network TEN 11.9%

Network ABC 9.5%

Network GO! 4.1%

Network 7TWO 3.4%

Network Gem 3.4%

Network ABC2 3.2%

Network SBS ONE 3.2%

Network 7mate 2.9%

Network ELEVEN 2.5%

Network ONE 1.8%

Network ABC News 24 1.0%

Network SBS 2 0.8%

Network ABC3 0.5%

Network NITV 0.1%

Total Audience Share:

Network 9 TTL 46.3%

Network 7 TTL 19.1%

Network TEN TTL 16.3%

Network ABC TTL 14.2%

Network SBS TTL 4.1%

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