THE LATE LATE Toy Show, Dublin’s victory over Kerry in the All Ireland Football Final and an episode of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! were among the most-watched television shows last year.

Audience figures for 2019 reveal how The Late Late Toy Show topped the list once again, pulling in an audience of over 1.5 million people on 29 November.

This year’s Toy Show was widely praised for delving into emotional and socially relevant issues for children, including Sophia who talked about being bullied, and Sophie who spoke about her little brother who has leukemia.

Sport dominated the rest of the top of the list, with the All Ireland Football Final replay the second most-watched show, with 990,000 people tuning in to RTÉ 2 to watch the Dubs historic five-in-a-row victory over the Kingdom on 14 September. 

Meanwhile, the Irish Rugby Team’s defeat to England at the Aviva Stadium on 2 February during the Six Nations, the All Ireland Hurling Final between Kilkenny and Tipperary and Ireland’s victory over the French rugby team on 10 March all featured in the top ten. 

The remaining top ten slots were filled by Ireland’s defeat at the hands of the All Blacks during last year’s Rugby World Cup on 19 October, an episode of Virgin Media One’s I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! on 17 November, which attracted an audience of nearly 725,000 people as well as the All Ireland Football Semi-Final between Dublin and Mayo and an episode of Room To Improve on 6 October. 

RTÉ shows dominated the top 50, with 42 of Ireland’s most-watched shows last year broadcast on RTÉ One or RTÉ2, with shows broadcast on Virgin Media One making up the other 8 slots. 

Adrian Lynch, Director of Audiences Channels and Marketing for RTÉ said the list demonstrated that “TV is very much a part of our daily lives and that, despite competition from other channels in Ireland, the UK and elsewhere, RTÉ programming is most popular with Irish audiences.”