Collingwood's 17-point win over the Blues was watched by 1,036,086 fans around Australia as well as the 84,247 fans that packed the MCG.
Sunday has traditionally been a day that struggles to attract the large television audiences that are associated with the Friday and Saturday night time slots, but the hype surrounding new Carlton coach Mick Malthouse's first meeting with his old club ensured that the match caught the attention of the nation.
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The last time a Sunday match attracted more than one million viewers nationally was in round 14, 2009, when St Kilda met Geelong at Etihad Stadium. The match was notable as both clubs entered the match without a loss.
Sunday's match was also a part of one of the best attended rounds in football history.
A total of 350,736 fans walked through the turnstiles at the nine games across the country, making round two the eighth-best total round crowd in VFL/AFL history.
The match against Carlton was the 14th highest attendance at a Collingwood home game.
It sits behind only round three, 2011 (88,181) and round two, 1994 (85,831) as the highest attended Collingwood home game against Carlton.
There was talk during the week that the match would attract a crowd of up to 90,000. Had it done so, it would have been only the 10th time in VFL/AFL history that the magical figure had been broken in a home and away match.
Interestingly, Collingwood has featured in seven of the nine games that have attracted 90,000 or more fans.
Information for this article was sourced from AFL Tables.
