Patrick Kielty’s debut as host of The Late Late Toy Show last November was watched by over 1.5 million viewers, while his first appearance as the new Late Late host in September also drew a Top 10 audience.
The Co Down man’s New Year’s Eve Late Late Show completed a hat trick that saw him feature in the Top 50 most watched programmes for a third time.
According to new figures released by TAM Ireland/Nielsen Media, RTÉ had 42 of the Top 50 of 2023’s most-watched shows on Irish TV, with RTÉ News, the Rugby World Cup, GAA All-Ireland Finals, Kin, the Six Nations and Room to Improve among Top 20.
Dancing with the Stars, Ireland’s Fittest Family, Fair City and Kin, The Rose of Tralee and The Tommy Tiernan Show also scored highly with Irish viewers.
Meanwhile, RTÉ Player had a record breaking 2023 with over 105 million streams.
Homegrown content remains the biggest attraction for Irish audiences across entertainment, sport, news and current affairs, and drama, with Irish-produced programming making up 49 of the Top 50 programmes.
2023 was the biggest year ever for RTÉ Player, with the free live and on-demand streaming service delivering a record 105 million streams, and 35 million streaming hours, reaching 1.3 million unique users.
26 July was the biggest day of the year on RTÉ Player with over 250,000 hours of content streamed on the day Ireland played Canada in the Women’s World Cup.
RTÉ Deputy Director of Content, Niamh O’Connor said: “Today’s release from TAM Ireland, once again proves that Irish audiences continue to favour Irish content above all else.
“Serving Irish audiences with a distinctive mix of quality Irish content is why RTÉ exists and we are committed to working, together with our colleagues in the Irish independent production sector, to continue to serve the public with unique Irish content that educates, entertains and informs.”
Source: TAM Ireland/Nielsen Media: Top programmes based on individuals 4+, all subscribing channels, averaging option: any day, any time, best episode, minimum duration 10 minutes. Please note: This list uses best episode of a series.
Top 10 programmes on RTÉ Player in 2023:
1 EastEnders
2 Home and Away
3 Fair City
4 Kin
5 RTÉ News: Nine O’Clock
6 RTÉ News: Six One
7 The Sunday Game Live
8 The Late Late Show
9 Love/Hate
10 Happy Valley
