NRL Media Release

Last night's Harvey Norman State of Origin Series decider was the most watched Origin game ever, attracting a national average audience of 3.765million.

Across the five capital cities an average of 2.476million viewers tuned in to witness the XXXX Queensland Maroons secure an historic sixth consecutive Series with a 34-24 win against the NSW VB Blues, with Brisbane recording the city's most watched program since the introduction of OzTAM ratings.

Both the national and the five capital city figures represent the highest Origin numbers since the OzTAM ratings began and eclipse the previous records of 2.468million and 3.636million respectively, both set by Game One last year.

The result gives Rugby League a clean sweep of the most watched programs so far this year across the five capital cities, with Harvey Norman State of Origin Game Three, Game One and Game Two taking out first to third place respectively.

The national average audience for the Origin decider also out-rated the 2010 NRL Grand Final and all other grand finals in Australian sport last year.

The record ratings also saw the 2011 Series crowned the most watched in Origin history, with a cumulative national audience of 10.693million tuning in across the three games, up 10% on the 2010 Series (9.723million) and up 543,000 viewers on the previous highest rated Series (2008: 10.149million).

In the game's host city of Brisbane, a capacity crowd of 52,498 packed Suncorp Stadium to farewell XXXX Queensland Maroons skipper Darren Lockyer, with the average audience of 905,000 viewers the highest figure for any program since the OzTAM ratings system was introduced.

The match also won its timeslot in Sydney where an average of 1,086,000 viewers generated a 59.4% audience share.

In Melbourne the match drew the highest ratings in four years with an average 340,000 viewers tuning in to the live broadcast.

Across Regional Australia, the 2011 Series decider was the second highest rated Origin Game ever, with an average audience of 1.289million tuning in.