Round one of the 2018 State of Origin between the New South Wales Blues and Queensland Maroons achieved 2.353m viewers across the five metro cities.
This figure has increased from last years 2.348m, with Sydney capturing nearly 1m viewers on its own, followed by Brisbane with an audience of 765,000.
The pre-match and post-match coverage also pulled in large audiences, with 1.127m metro viewers and 758,000 respectively, achieving a national result of 3.456m, making it the highest-rating TV event of the year to date.
The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), which played host to the highly anticipated battle pulled a solid crowd of 87,122 fans, helping Rugby League infiltrate the AFL dominated state.
Join the most engaged community in the Sports Business World.
Get all the latest news, insights, data, education and event updates.