The power of international sport to draw big television audiences
has again been demonstrated this year. The GAA's All-Ireland finals have come in in the bottom two places of the biggest viewerships for the year to the end of November, according to a list compiled by the RTÉ Guide.
Topping this list is last month's Late Late Toy Show with 1,357,000 viewers. The next four places are taken by episodes of Love Hate with the biggest sports audience achieved by Ireland's Six Nations rugby championship climax against France in Paris.
Next is the soccer World Cup final between Germany and Argentina. The other two places in the top 10 are taken by the All-Ireland football and hurling finals, the latter being the drawn match between Kilkenny and Tipperary.
Station policy
The consolidated figures for the year, including this month’s Christmas broadcasting, will be released next month. Station policy is that individual episodes of the same series are not separately rated so
Love Hate
won’t occupy five slots in the official ratings in January.
Assuming the figures hold, it would be the third time in the past six years that All-Ireland finals have been eclipsed in the most-watched sports event category.
Two years ago Ireland's first match in Euro 2012, against Croatia, drew 1,235,700 viewers, over 200,000 more than that year's football final between Donegal and Mayo.
Five years ago the All-Irelands were also adrift of soccer and rugby broadcasts. Coincidentally the biggest audience in 2009 was also in Stade de France – Ireland’s World Cup play-off against France – and the second-highest tuned in for Ireland’s Grand Slam win over Wales in Cardiff.
Another factor in the lower figures for the All-Irelands was Dublin’s absence from the football final. When the county reach the climax of the All-Ireland series, as they did last year and in 2011, the audience has topped a million.
The defeat of Kerry three years ago was watched by 1,085,200 and last year’s win against Mayo by 1,064,200.
It’s the first time a rugby match has been the year’s most watched sports event. It’s also unusual for a World Cup final to outrank the All-Irelands, as the soccer is available on other channels, which aren’t counted as part of Irish audiences. Four years ago both the Tipperary-Kilkenny hurling final and the Cork-Down football equivalent attracted more viewers than the Spain-Netherlands soccer final.
