There was a reach of 4,481,000 people who tuned in to watch Johnathan Thurston steer the Cowboys to their first NRL premiership, compared to 3.9 million viewers for the Hawthorn-West Coast grand final on Saturday.

In the metropolitan regions, however, AFL performed better than its northern sporting code rival – recording 2.64 million viewers to 2.43 million.

As for the ratings, it was a little closer with the NRL just edging ahead of the AFL by 100,000 (3.6 million to 3.5 million).

Compared to previous years, the NRL's premier game had the second highest viewership of all televised grand finals, falling just short of last year's Rabbitohs-Bulldogs decider (2.59 million) in which South Sydney triumphed 30-6.

"We could not have dreamed of a more spectacular and exciting end to the season," NRL CEO Dave Smith said in a statement on Monday.

The AFL had less people tuning in than the last time Hawthorn took out the flag in 2014, falling from 2.81 million, but it was the biggest metro television audience of the year, topping the second State of Origin match in Melbourne, which had 2.61 million viewers.

By comparison, 187,000 people tuned in to watch the Wallabies beat England on Sunday morning at 6am, but the timeslot was not particularly enticing for those celebrating the long weekend. The NRL grand final attracted 45 per cent of total viewers for the evening and in Sydney the average audience was 952,000 with a peak of 1.05 million viewers.

Rugby league's showcase game could also make an argument for having better pre-game entertainment, too. The NRL's decision to bring back Jimmy Barnes and Cold Chisel, as well as Jessica Mauboy compared to the lip-syncing Ellie Goulding, Chris Isaak and Bryan Adams at the MCG, was successful, as an average audience of 1.43 million (peak 2.06 million) tuned in for the pre-match, while 1.77 million (2.75 million) watched Thurston and his teammates lift the premiership trophy.