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SPORT DOMINATED THE list of the top 50 most-watched television programmes over the last year, taking nine of the top 10 places behind The Late Late Toy Show, according to consolidated figures released by industry body TAM Ireland and research company Nielsen.
In a busy year of sport, politics and scandal, the Late Late Toy Show once again topped the list of the most-watched programmes on television in the Irish market in 2024, with Patrick Kielty’s first festive special reaching a final tally of 1,525,800 viewers on RTÉ One alone.
The Late Late Toy Show managed to retain its traditional first-place spot on the list, with the 2024 viewing figure down slightly from an audience of 1,575,800 in 2023.
Only two other entrants on the list garnered over a million viewers, including Ireland’s definitive win over France in the Six Nations in February which amassed a total of audience of 1,077,200.
Overall, commercial TV viewing was up 4%, with viewers spent an average of three hours and 23 minutes watching video content on their TV set every day.
In a busy year of sporting events, rugby dominated the list, with ten games in the top 50 and all of Ireland’s Six Nations game making into the top ten most-viewed programmes.
The All-Ireland Hurling and Football finals also earned top-ten positions (third for hurling final, sixth for football final), with the hotly-contested final between Clare and Cork garnering over a million viewers (1,046,100).
A total of ten Euro 2024 soccer matches made the top 50, along with two Nations League marches, while the Olympics also performed well and had “a very broad appeal,” according to TAM Ireland/Nielsen.
The next-highest non-sporting event on the list was the I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here! final (681,500) on Virgin Media One, which beat out the Eurovision Song Contest (674,200).
Two broadcasts of the RTÉ News also featured in the top 20, and were watched by 669,400 and 654,000 people, respectively.
Other notable programmes to make the list include the Prime Time Leaders’ Debate (551,700), which was out-watched by an episode of Dancing with the Stars (558,300), and The Rose of Tralee (543,400).
A number of Irish-produced programmes featured in the top 50 most-viewed list, including an episode of Mrs. Brown’s Boys which amassed an audience of 476,300 viewers in 2024.
An episode of RTÉ’s long-running soap opera Fair City also picked up a spot on the list, garnering an audience of 454,500 for an episode last year.
Cork-based comedy the Young Offenders, which airs across RTÉ and BBC, picked up a lower spot on the top 50 list, with one episode earning 441, 700 in 2024.
Jill McGrath, CEO of TAM Ireland, said that it’s “fantastic to see the place that television holds in the hearts of the nation”.
“As programme choice continues to expand, so too does our appetite for content,” McGrath said.
“The content produced by TV broadcasters continues to drive conversations and shared experiences across the nation, with relevance being at the heart of its appeal.
“It’s no surprise that TV continues to dominate the Irish media landscape and we look forward to another year of fantastic TV content being delivered to the nation across multiple platforms.”
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Excellent article, the Irish state must have the best minds on this. Apple may be a one-off, but if anything is found re the Apple tax arrangements the investigators will be looking at other multinationals located in Ireland.
Apples is not a one off but at least they can justify their tax deal with the amount if people they employ here. There are several companies who employ very few here that have similar deals
The EU is not interested in how many people they employ. They are interested in tax rules. And they will fine if they find fault and as usual not care about potential damage to the people of Ireland.
It’s quite shocking how people wrap themselves in the national flag to defend these highly questionable tax arrangements. Apple has made staggering profits, paying hardly any tax in Ireland or elsewhere in the EU. It contributes very little to the Irish or European economy. In a time where the poor and vulnerable are paying the highest cost for economic crisis it is only fair that these multinationals pay a fair share.
It’s not that black and white. They leave Ireland – then say goodbye to over 3000 jobs in Cork. It would be catastrophic to the area.
indeed it would be “fair” that Apple does not take advantage of a favourable tax deal with Ireland. It would be “fair” that it paid tax in France for the profit made in France. The point here is that it would be a serious blow to the Irish economy because, yes, we are partly funded by the money we unfairly allow companies to not pay into other countries’ tax coffers. Any return to “fairness” here would be our loss. So if you want fairness, be prepared to pay more tax, Dom, as we may soon lose the taxes (unfairly) paid by Apple here.
If there is proved to be a sweetheart deal with Apple, as opposed to Apple taking advantage of a loophole, we should not defend the indefensible. We should close the gaps open to creative accounting, remove the Double Irish loophole and lower the corporation tax rate to 9% to offset losses. Our tax regime should be airtight legally, but low in percentage.
Hi Neil
Thanks for the comment.
The matter is not one of defending the action, it is about defending the country from having to pay a fine that would wreck the public finances. Companies are now being fined close to €1Bn. A similar or larger fine would do horrible damage to the country.
Bye, bye apple. The core is now rotten. Time to plant the seed somewhere else. USA up to its old tricks again.
Apple metaphors. Nice.
Scary
Are people not aware you or I would go to prison if we engaged in the same practice’s as Apple and the rest. Tax dodging is tax dodging end of. While they might benefit cork., they do nothing for our economy as a whole. So we continue to get hit with more taxes while these parasites avoid contributing.
13 trillion folks and that is only the tip of the iceberg of what these parasites are hiding in taxes globally. Wake up.
so say they find ireland and apple clean does this mean the irish state can sue the US senate and newspapers and media that actually might not of done any back checking at all so we could get rid of water charges and property tax cause that would be swell but you know thats a if ireland are clean sure we will be grand ;)
Our problem is we think if we don’t give into these big companies they will leave, now its too late we did it once too often. The Governments have over the years sold this Country
as a free for all, just look at the expense of medicines here the highest in Europe. Our government thinks thats ok.
Sure they will pay they wont say a word
Lets show them by uniting next Saturday for the water rates, and we wont stop there.
Why do we sell ourselves short
Interesting.
have your say