Media&Marketing: Predictions that Ryan Tubridy's Saturday night show could soon surpass the Late Late Show in audience terms may have been wide of the mark, new figures indicate.

Tubridy's show only beat the Late Late Show once, on March 5th, according to an analysis from MCM, McConnell's media buying/planning arm.

Averaged out over the first quarter of the year, the Late Late Show is achieving a total viewing reach of about 15.8 per cent, compared to 11.9 per cent for the Tubridy Tonight programme. Possibly more surprising, is that Kenny is getting a larger share of the audience between 15 and 34 years old than his young pretender. The figures are produced by AC Nielsen.

With Prime Time presenter Miriam O'Callaghan also expected to enter the chat arena, things could interesting over the next few months. Either way, the intense focus on the figures is likely to be welcomed by those selling airtime for RTÉ 1.

GAA coverage rises

There was a time when the GAA worried that live TV coverage could damage the All-Ireland championships, particularly match attendance figures and gate receipts.

But this attitude has been replaced by a hard-nosed view of what live television can do for the organisation.

RTÉ has just announced details of increased television coverage for this season along with an extended Sunday Game review programme.

According to Dublin agency AFA O'Meara, the volume of coverage is unprecedented, with RTÉ to show more than 35 live matches over 21 weekends.

In terms of advertising, RTÉ is offering a 30-second spot in each televised live match throughout the season for €120,000, which includes both finals as well as any replays.

The senior football final on RTÉ 2 last year was the most watched programme on the station, with 743,000 individuals tuning in, while the hurling final was the second most watched programme with 717,000 tuning in to watch Cork beat Kilkenny.

Soaps cleaning up

Although sport continues to be important for the main stations, do not underestimate the power and reach of the main prime-time soaps, according to new figures for March.

This genre, effectively invented for the advertising industry, continues to form a central plank in the prime time schedules of TV3 and RTÉ.

Dublin agency Saor Communications has this week been poring over last month's numbers. Coronation Street came out top in March when compared with the three other largest soaps: Fair City, Eastenders and Emmerdale.

"These soaps can pull in audiences of over half a million adults in early prime-time advertising slots," the agency points out.

Coronation Street attracted 571,000 adults to TV3 on March 14th, while Fair City pulled in 559,000 adults to RTÉ 1 on St Patrick's Day.

TV3's highest viewing point for Emmerdale was on March 29th when 368,000 adults tuned in.

Eastenders peaked on March 17th on RTÉ 1 with 523,000 adults watching.

However, it is worth noting that in 2004 certain editions of Prime Time and the 9 O'Clock News actually managed to beat the soaps.

Scots eye Ireland

The links between Scotland and Ireland go back centuries, but now advertising agencies are trying to cash in on the business links between the two countries.

Media Force, which already represents the regional papers in Ireland, has just been appointed to chase down advertising revenue in Ireland for Scotsman Publications.

This company owns three titles: the Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News.

Mediaforce, which represents 470 newspapers in Britain and Ireland, has also been asked to source some Irish business for the Manchester Evening News.

Helen Sawyer, director of Mediaforce, said the links with the two groups were not about building circulation in Ireland but more about linking up with Irish businesses interested in advertising in Scotland.

Murray restructures

Murray Consultants, the Dublin-based PR firm, has announced a restructuring of its management team.

Pat Walsh, currently a director, becomes managing director, replacing Joe Murray, one of the founders of the firm. Mr Murray will continue working at the company but day-to-day management will pass to Mr Walsh.

Donal Roche becomes non-executive chairman, while Elizabeth Headon becomes a director and Sharon McDonnell becomes an account director. The other founder of the company, Jim Milton, is not affected by the changes and remains a director.

Mr Walsh joined Murray in 1997 and was appointed deputy managing director in 2003. He previously held positions with Glanbia, Kerry Group and SWS.

Mr Roche is chairman of Appian Wealth Management and a former managing partner of Matheson Ormsby Prentice.

Cats Laughs sponsor

Smithwicks will sponsor the Cat Laughs comedy festival in Kilkenny between June 2nd and 6th. Murphys was the previous sponsor.