Revealed: The most-watched shows on Irish TV in 2024 The Late Late Show takes the top spot of most-watched show in Irish television in 2024 as newly released TV viewing figures by TAM Ireland/Nielsen Media are released
From The Examiner
In what was a big year for Irish television, The Late Late Toy Show has yet again taken the top spot as the most-watched programme on Irish TV in 2024.
Sport made up the remaining nine of the top 10 most-watched programmes, with the Guinness Six Nations, All-Ireland hurling and football finals and the UEFA Euro 2024 final all featuring prominently.
It comes as newly released TV viewing figures by TAM Ireland/Nielsen Media for 2024 show that Irish audiences overwhelmingly chose RTÉ out of all channels available in Ireland last year, with six of the top ten programmes airing on the network while Virgin Media Ireland completed the list thanks to its Six Nations rugby coverage.
As was the case in 2023, RTÉ delivered 42 of the Top 50 most-watched programmes across all channels available in Ireland in 2024, with a mix of sport, entertainment, documentaries, news and current affairs, as well as drama and comedy. The viewing figures also revealed that RTÉ attracted its highest share of linear TV audience in Ireland in over a decade with a share of 27.9% of the TV audience in 2024 beating the previous high of 27.7% in 2013.
The public service broadcaster has grown its share of 15 to 34-year-olds over the same period, from 20.4% in 2013 to 25.4% in 2024.
The RTÉ Player also had its most successful year to date, attracting a record-breaking 142 million streams in 2024. The figure represents a year-on-year increase of 42%.
Director of Video at RTÉ, Steve Carson said an investment in the functionality and availability of the RTÉ Player “has paid off” with an enhanced user experience and expanded catalogue delivering for audiences.
2024 was a big year for national and international events, including Ireland’s first Eurovision final appearance since 2018, both Leaders’ Debates in the run-up to the general election, the Olympics and Paralympics, Six Nations, the Euros, and the GAA All-Ireland ChampionshipsUEFA Euro 2024 coverage was number one on RTÉ Player with 8.8 million streams followed by EastEnders, Paris Olympics 2024, Home and Away, and Fair City.
Yellowstone came in next with over 4.5 million streams on RTÉ Player.
Home-produced documentaries including Bishop Casey’s Buried Secrets, entertainment favourites The Late Late Show, Dancing With the Stars, The Tommy Tiernan Show, The Rose of Tralee and New Year’s Eve Live, as well as comedy and drama in the form of Fair City and The Young Offenders, all proved hugely popular.
An election year saw the Prime Time Leaders’ Debate and the Upfront With Katie Hannon – Leaders’ Debate both featuring in the Top 50 most-watched programmes of the year
Coverage of Storm Darragh on the RTÉ Nine O’Clock News on December 6 and Storm Isha on the RTÉ Six One News on January 21 also made the Top 50.
RTÉ’s coverage of the Paris Olympics for Team Ireland was also hugely popular with Irish viewers. Kellie Harrington’s gold-medal performance in the ring peaked at 1.4 million viewers, while Rhasidat Adeleke’s Women’s 400m Final peaked at 926,000 and the Irish Women’s 4 x 400m final peaked at 910,000.