Delayed in WA and SA till 10:30.

And the second bit was needed

Quote: "State of Origin opener a ratings winner for Channel Nine Last night’s State of Origin opener drove Channel Nine to a smashing ratings victory with the highest rating program of the year. A total of 3,502,000 viewers (5 City Metro plus Regional) across Australia watched the XXXX Queensland Maroons draw first blood in the 2011 Harvey Norman State of Origin Series with a 16-12 win against the VB New South Wales Blues. The game recorded a peak national audience of 4,081,000. A peak audience of over 2,500,000 (Total People) watched the game in the 5 City Metro market, with an average of 2,236,000. State of Origin was the number one program for Total People in the 5 City Metro market, along the East Coast, in Sydney and Brisbane. The game also led Total People and all three key demographics www.throng.com.au/node/27239

Quote: "State of Origin opener a ratings winner for Channel Nine Last night’s State of Origin opener drove Channel Nine to a smashing ratings victory with the highest rating program of the year. A total of 3,502,000 viewers (5 City Metro plus Regional) across Australia watched the XXXX Queensland Maroons draw first blood in the 2011 Harvey Norman State of Origin Series with a 16-12 win against the VB New South Wales Blues. The game recorded a peak national audience of 4,081,000. A peak audience of over 2,500,000 (Total People) watched the game in the 5 City Metro market, with an average of 2,236,000. State of Origin was the number one program for Total People in the 5 City Metro market, along the East Coast, in Sydney and Brisbane. The game also led Total People and all three key demographics www.throng.com.au/node/27239

Touche

Hey...I am all for promoting the game to a larger audience, but the SoO build up and 40 million US comment were cringeworthy......SoO is a great concept, but it's not the "biggest thing on the planet" as was being said last night.....I would suggest the best team in the world would have to be there for that.....and they weren't.

40,000,000 viewers in the US......

4 billion

So what should they say?

"Where televising to America, the games avaiable to 40 million people over there! But it's 3 in the morning so we'll be lucky if a million bother. Oh and the kiwis are world champs."

And I say it is the biggest thing on the planet for Qld and NSw fans.

So's the boat race to the select few who attend the Oxbridge colleges...and more people watch that on TV
Not 'avin a pop.......just saying it was a bit cheezy last night....Rugby League doesn't need fluffing.

I'd say promotion of the game is very needed.

How can we say we don't do it enough then complain when we do?

Surely the club you support is the biggest thing - SOO is short mid-season divergence from regular season Rugby.

Or are you saying that you get a lot of band wagoners for whom this is the only game they attend each year?

On the US viewing figures it would have been 5 in the morning east coast but if you can only get 14% of the available in the country in matters most too how many do you honestly think you will get in a country that has even heard of the sport?

Some might not support nrl clubs but be fans of rl (and fans of nsw and qld) tbh I'm to busy to do polls outside the ground.

That is the difference here even if you support a junior club you still have an affiliation to a pro side - I suppose the distance is also an issue in Queensland.