State of Origin suffering a TV ratings slump

RUGBY league’s showpiece event, State of Origin, is slowly dying, with Channel Nine TV ratings show 680,000 viewers have disappeared in the last two years

Rugby league’s showpiece event, State of Origin, is slowly dying.

Channel Nine TV ratings show a startling 680,000 viewers have disappeared in the last two years after yet another predictable Queensland series victory. The massive 16.5 per cent slump has been put down to a combination of reasons:

* Games starting too late and well after advertised kick-off time.

* Queensland’s dominance to win 10 of the last 11 series has become too monotonous and boring.

* The poor quality of games and overly defensive tactics; and

* Unpopular selections in the NSW Blues teams.

NSW fans haven’t had many reasons to tune in over the past decade.

The ratings figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph have sent shock waves through the NRL on top of sluggish ticket sales for this year’s series.

Ticket sales for the Suncorp Stadium game, which normally sellout well in advance, were the slowest in history.

Officials had to lower seat prices to $30 (10 for $300) to ensure the game one crowd got to 80,000 in Sydney — an offer that has since been repeated for Origin III — for what was once regarded as the hottest ticket in sport. But the TV ratings slump is by far the biggest concern.

National ratings for the last three years for Origin 2 are 2014 (4,188,147) 2015 (3,922,305) and 2016 (3,496,983).

The number of viewers has fallen by nearly half a million on last year … and 680,000 on 2014.

A breakdown of the ratings show capital city figures remain steady with most viewers turning off in regional audiences across the country.

Although with Sydney audiences, figures were down more than 200,000 for game two compared to two years ago.

Channel Nine still expects the Origin series will provide two of the top-five rating shows on Australian television this year. Their revenue figures are also up 12 per cent on last year.

It is the potential long-term damage to future broadcast-deal negotiations and advertising sales that is the major concern for both the NRL and the network.

Especially as the figures quoted are for live games and not dead-rubbers.

NSW's reliance on the same players and Queensland’s dominance have made Origin dull.

NRL CEO Todd Greenberg is publicly remaining upbeat and said State of Origin I was the highest rating match for five years in the five-city metro market.

“Naturally there is more interest in Sydney when the team is winning but Origin is still the biggest sporting event in Australia,” Greenberg said.

State of Origin was born in 1980 because every year NSW completely dominated the Maroons and interstate football became too boring. Now we have an identical scenario but the other way around.

In the Suncorp Stadium press box last Wednesday week I turned to my colleague Dean Ritchie late in the second-half and said: “This has become boring.”

Same old, same old.

When was the last time we saw a Billy Slater chip-and-chase try? A Mark Coyne touchdown in the dying seconds or a Michael O’Connor sideline conversion with a leather football on a Sydney Football Stadium mud heap?

Now it’s too predictable.

There has been frustration too that the Blues have taken too long to pick rising stars of the calibre of Penrith’s Bryce Cartwright and the Wests Tigers’ James Tedesco.

Families also complain the kick-off time is too late on a school night.

The failure of Wednesday night games to maintain the big audiences will lead to a push for the introduction for Sunday night Origins to become a regular fixture when the NRL takes control of the schedule from the networks in 2018.

Originally published as State of Origin suffering a TV ratings slump