State of Origin smashes Lost finale

More than 2.45 million people tuned in for game one of State of Origin, giving it an
easy ratings win over the series finale of Lost which went out with a whimper.
Nine's coverage of the clash between NSW and Queensland, which was shown in 3D for
the first time, peaked at 2.8 million viewers across the country's five capital
cities on Wednesday night.
In comparison, Seven's Lost, airing in the same timeslot as the game, bowed out with
an average audience of 615,000 people.
The rugby league game, which Queensland won 28-24, is the most watched program of
2010 so far - a mantle previously held by the April premiere of Underbelly: The
Golden Mile which had 2.2 million viewers.
It beat the ratings for the first game of last year's Origin series which had an
average 2.3 million viewers.
With regional figures added, this year's first game averaged more than 3.6 million
viewers and peaked at 4.2 million.
Over on Seven, the series finale of Lost which closed the six-year show managed to
pull just over 600,000 viewers.
The series has been showing in prime time on Seven's digital channel 7Two, and the
finale was aired on Seven at 8.30pm on Wednesday.
The figures are a far cry from those seen when the program first went to air in
Australia in February 2005 - that first episode of Lost attracted 2.48 million
viewers making it one of that year's most watched programs.