Channel Nine's TV ratings for Origin II is in a major slump, as reported by The Daily Telegraph.
The audience viewership for game two has slipped from 4.59 million in 2014, which was televised on a Wednesday night, to just 2.8 million in last Sunday's clash in Perth.
The results will raise questions over the decision to televise the game on the Sunday night time slot.
While New South Wales' 38-6 blowout win over Queensland may have contributed to the poor ratings, last year's game two was also down 1.3 million viewers from the 2014 clash.
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg said the Sunday night fixture had several benefits.
โWe have to consider this in the context of the whole of representative round,โ he toldย The Daily Telegraph.ย
โMore than a million people watched the Womenโs Origin match on Friday night โ figures that were up on 2018.
โWe saw some fantastic Test matches on Saturday which again created unique and special content for our fans and broadcasters.
โThe two Origin games โ menโs and womenโs โ were watched by about four million people.
โThatโs on top of record crowds at both games.
โWeโve also reduced the impact on the premiership. The Sunday game allows us to condense the Origin period.โ
It has been confirmed that Nine CEO Hugh Marks and director of sport Tom Malone will meet with the NRL to discuss the ratings.
Play it at 6.30 or 7 so the whole family can sit down to watch it. On too late for kids.
Probably all the queenslanders turning it off once they knew they were gonna get smashed.
Get rid of Sundays, origin was built on Wednesdays, why fix something that is not broken, the last game will be a game breaker for attendence and ratings