The Late Late Toy Show was again Ireland’s most popular TV programme last year out-performing all other TV shows, the annual TAM/Nielsen report indicates. Ireland as a sport-loving nation was clear with nine of the top 10 most viewed shows being sporting events. The All Ireland football final was top, followed by Ireland v France in the Six Nations.
The Fifa World Cup tournament in Qatar also came to prominence with both the semi and final making it to the top 10 and the Ireland v South Africa game from the Autumn Nations series also appeared in the top 20. But it’s not all about sport – news, current affairs and documentaries featured strongly with Quinn Country alongside the two main news bulletins.
As a nation we viewed almost 3.7 billion hours of broadcast TV last year. The average Irish adult in a TV home watches broadcast TV on a TV set for two hours 35 mins every day – that’s almost 78 hours a month. Some 85 per cent of daily viewing is consumed live, as scheduled), and 15 per cent watched as catch up. This figure has remained fairly static since 2018.
Housekeepers
Good news for advertisers was that housekeepers, those that have the responsibility for the main household shopping, continue to be amongst the heaviest viewers, spending three hours and 15 mins watching broadcast TV every day. Women spent slightly more time viewing each day than men – two hours 42 minutes and two hours 28 minutes respectively.
Light entertainment shows like Room to Improve, Dancing with the Stars and I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! all featured in the year’s top 50 list. Fair City was the most popular soap, closely followed by Coronation Street and Emmerdale. Youth audiences favoured live sport, The Toy Show, Love Island, Derry Girls and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth.
Home shows
Home produced shows made up over 90 per cent of the top 50 programmes. Looking at total viewing to all video across all devices, viewing to broadcaster content is by far the most popular viewing activity. Total video viewing data was available for the first 10 months, showing that people spent 70 per cent of their daily viewing with broadcaster content.
Some 11 per cent was spent watching streaming services such as Netflix and Disney and 19 per cent with video sharing platforms like Youtube and TikTok.
IRELAND’S TOP 5O TV PROGRAMMES 2022
1 The Late Late Toy Show RTÉ One 25-11-2022 1532.3
2 Sunday Game Live – AISFC Final – Live Play – Galway v Kerry RTÉ2 24-07-2022 872.3
3 Guinness Six Nations Live France V Ireland Virgin Media One 12-02-2022 818.5
4 Sunday Game Live – AISHC Final – Live Play – Kilkenny v Limerick RTÉ One 17-07-2022 786.0
5 FIFA World Cup Live – Argentina v Croatia:Live RTÉ2 13-12-2022 784.2
6 FIFA World Cup Live – Argentina v France:Live RTÉ2 18-12-2022 783.7
7 Guinness Six Nations – Live Play – England V Ireland RTÉ2 12-03-2022 778.5
8 FIFA World Cup Live – England v France:Live RTÉ2 10-12-2022 759.9
9 Guinness Six Nations Live – Ireland V Wales RTÉ2 05-02-2022 733.3
10 Guinness Six Nations Live Ireland V Scotland Virgin Media One 19-03-2022 683.6
11 RTE News: Six One RTÉ One 21-01-2022 654.7
12 FIFA World Cup Live – France v Morocco:Live RTÉ2 14-12-2022 633.6
13 Room To Improve RTÉ One 20-02-2022 607.2
14 RTE News: Nine O’Clock RTÉ One 27-02-2022 592.8
15 FIFA World Cup Live – England v Senegal:Live RTÉ2 04-12-2022 589.9
16 Sunday Game Live – AISFC SF – Live Play – Dublin V Kerry RTÉ One 10-07-2022 589.8
17 Champions League Live – Live Play – Liverpool V Re RTÉ2 28-05-2022 575.8
18 Late Late Show, The RTÉ One 14-01-2022 567.2
19 Autumn Nations Series: IRL v SA Live Virgin Media Two 05-11-2022 557.8
20 NYE Countdown Concert With Westlife RTÉ One 31-12-2022 557.1
21 Sunday Game Live – AISFC QF – Live Play – Kerry V Mayo RTÉ2 26-06-2022 547.2
22 Dancing With The Stars RTÉ One 09-01-2022 544.1
23 Autumn Nations Series: IRE v AUS Live Virgin Media Two 19-11-2022 537.1
24 Guinness Six Nations – Live Play – France V England RTÉ2 19-03-2022 527.6
25 I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Virgin Media One 06-11-2022 523.5
26 FIFA World Cup Live – Spain v Germany:Live RTÉ2 27-11-2022 521.4
27 Rose Of Tralee International Festival 2022, The RTÉ One 23-08-2022 516.1
28 RTE Investigates: The Accountant, the Con, the Lie RTÉ One 14-02-2022 499.0
29 Tommy Tiernan Show, The RTÉ One 08-01-2022 498.6
30 FIFA World Cup Live – England v USA:Live RTÉ2 25-11-2022 497.2
31 Guinness Six Nations Live Ireland V Italy Virgin Media One 27-02-2022 495.9
32 FIFA World Cup Live – Portugal v Uruguay:Live RTÉ2 28-11-2022 493.0
33 FIFA World Cup Live – Portugal v Switzerland:Live RTÉ2 06-12-2022 488.7
34 Sunday Game Live – AISHC SF – Live Play – Limerick v Galway RTÉ2 03-07-2022 487.0
35 Fair City RTÉ One 09-01-2022 482.7
36 FIFA World Cup Live – Netherlands V Argentina:Live RTÉ2 09-12-2022 480.3
37 Quinn Country RTÉ One 29-11-2022 480.3
38 FIFA World Cup Live – Brazil v Korea Republic:Live RTÉ2 05-12-2022 472.4
39 Crimes And Confessions RTÉ One 24-01-2022 464.9
40 FIFA World Cup Live – WAL v ENG:Live RTÉ2 29-11-2022 459.7
41 Mrs Brown’s Boys: Mammy’s Hair Loom RTÉ One 31-12-2022 453.6
42 FIFA World Cup Live – Morocco v Portugal:Live RTÉ2 10-12-2022 453.1
43 DIY SOS RTÉ One 03-04-2022 449.8
44 Saturday Game Live – AISFC SF – Live Play – Derry v Galway RTÉ2 09-07-2022 447.4
45 Ireland’s Fittest Family RTÉ One 20-11-2022 447.2
46 Reeling In The Years RTÉ One 04-01-2022 446.6
47 Saturday GAA Live – Football – Live – Kerry V Dublin RTÉ2 05-02-2022 444.2
48 Operation Transformation RTÉ One 26-01-2022 439.8
49 Sunday Game Live – MSHC – Live – Limerick V Clare RTÉ2 05-06-2022 437.5
50 Smother RTÉ One 13-02-2022 425.
Source: TAM Ireland/Nielsen
