Women’s State of Origin opener delivers eye-watering TV audience figures
Queensland supporters pictured during game one of the 2-25 Women's State of Origin series
Women’s rugby league in Australia continues to impress after the Women’s State of Origin opener smashes the men’s AFL free-to-air ratings in Thursday’s standalone game in Brisbane.
With the evidence to suggest it’s now one of Australia’s premier sporting events, New South Wales’ victory over Queensland almost doubled the free-to-air TV audience of the AFL’s Thursday night clash between Essendon and North Melbourne (both Melbourne based clubs).
Channel Nine’s broadcast of the first-of-three Origin games drew a national Australian audience of 927,000, making it the most-watched rugby league match on the network this year, despite there being a slight dip from last year’s 941,000 viewers.
By comparison, just 455,000 tuned in to the AFL game on free-to-air.
The rivalry which saw controversial claims of eye-gouging and hair-pulling during the match, was a force to be reckoned with in the Thursday prime-time television slot, topping ratings in Sydney and Brisbane and claiming the number one spot nationally across key demographics, including people aged 16-39 and 25-54.
The match had an overall national reach of more than two million viewers.
The demand was just as strong on digital streaming platforms.
Channel Nine’s streaming service saw a 16.2% increase in viewership compared to last year, with 172,000 tuning in online.
“Women’s rugby league continues to break records,” said NRL chief executive officer Andrew Abdo.
“The highest ever crowd for a Women’s State of Origin game was complemented by a really strong viewership,” said Abdo.
“Thursday night’s game was the highest rating free-to-air rugby league game this year.”
“The players keep producing great football and the fans are responding,” he said.
On top of being a broadcasting success, a record-breaking crowd of 26,022 fans packed into Suncorp Stadium, to edge out the previous high of 25,782.
With the series now heading to Sydney’s Allianz Stadium for game two on May 15, NSW captain Isabelle Kelly issued a rallying cry to Blues fans to raise the bar even higher.
“I think Allianz is the stadium to do that [break the record],” Kelly said.
“It’s in Sydney, where a lot of people love to watch rugby league.”
“I think after the game that was just displayed [at Suncorp Stadium], there will be a lot of people who will want to come watch that one.”
Blues hooker Keeley Davis also celebrated the growth of the women’s game and its growing devotion of supporters.
“It’s awesome, the Origin arena has just grown every year,” she said.
“There have been so many loyal supporters and spectators. It’s awesome to see that people are still continuing to come and watch.”
Adding to the impressive numbers of the women’s game, it’s worthy to note the Jillaroos’ recent clash against England – despite being a lopsided affair in Las Vegas – also attracted over 800,000 viewers, which signals a bright future for the women’s game.
