The first standalone State of Origin game on a Sunday night in 17 years has delivered mixed results in the ratings arena.
Game Two, which saw NSW clench a breathtaking series victory, was the second highest rating program of the year, only behind the series opener in Melbourne, but the issue for the NRL lies in the drop off of viewers.
Despite still winning the ratings battle for Sunday night, the second game in Sydney saw its numbers dramatically drop down by 12% with an average of 3.179 million viewers compared to the first game which averaged 3.456 million viewers.
Channel 9 look set to urge the NRL to change State of Origin back to Wednesday nights to have less competition for viewership from reality TV on rival stations Seven and Ten.
The early start of 7:50pm could've contributed to the loss of viewers as they were simply unaware the game start 20 mins earlier, expecting it to be the normal Wednesday night kick off time of 8:10pm.
The standalone Origin game also allowed international Test matches and the newly named Women's State of Origin to be broadcasted in place of the regular NRL competition.
In what was a positive for the NRL this weekend, the first ever televised Women's Origin match, (also won by NSW), on Friday night exceeded rating expectations with a combined average number of 690,000 people tuning in on Fox Sports and Channel 9.
The two Pacific Islands Tests saw a national average of 507,000 people watch Tonga battled Samoa for a 38-22 victory, while 269,000 people saw Papua New Guinea run out winners over Fiji 26-14.
A total average of 6.8 million viewers saw the best men and women of the NRL showcase their skills in the standalone weekend, but leaves the NRL having to make a big decision on whether to keep experimenting with the Sunday night games.
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