Nine Network's coverage of the State of Origin won more than 2.6 million sports fans across Australia's state capitals last night.
The Blues' victory over the Maroons, to take the Origin title for the first time in nine years, saw Nine win 45.8% of the total free-to-air audience.
The match was aired on Channel Nine in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide and scored 2.563 million viewers. In Perth, the game was broadcast on Nine's digital channel Gem, and reached 119,000 viewers.
The post-match and pre-match coverage were the second and third most-watched free-to-air TV programs, with audiences of 1.811 million and 1.690 million respectively on Channel Nine. On Gem in Perth, these programs won 86,000 and 57,000 viewers respectively.
Aside from the rugby, Ten's MasterChef Australia and Seven's Home and Away were the only non-news programs to make the top 10.
MasterChef Australia won an audience of 859,000, making it the ninth most-watched program, and Home and Away was watched by 850,000, placing 10th.
Completing the top 10 was Seven News, fourth with an audience of 1.206 million, Nine News, fifth with 1.154 million, Nine News at 6.30, sixth with 1.082 million, Seven's Today Tonight, seventh with 1.041 million, and Nine's A Current Affair, eighth with 1.013 million.
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