Ireland v Canada most watched women's team sport event in Irish TV history
Ireland v Australia biggest live event of the year on RT Player
RT 's coverage of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 broke audience records as television live match broadcasts plus highlights reached over half of the TV-owning population. The Republic of Ireland's group game against Canada was the highest rating game on RT 2 and the most watched women's team sport event in Irish TV history with an average of 551,000 viewers.
The average share of viewing on RT 2, excluding Ireland games, was more than double (20.7%) the average share for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup (8.9%) while average streams per match on RT Player were more than double* the number seen in 2019.
Ireland's opening match against Australia was the biggest live event of the year on RT Player with 368,000 live streams, and the second highest live streamed event ever on the platform.** Yesterday's Final, which saw Spain defeat England 1-0 to become World Champions for the first time, was watched by an average of 333,000 people on RT 2, with a 48.3% share of viewing. It registered 69,400 live streams on RT Player.
RT Group Head of Sport, Declan McBennett, said The audience engagement figures across all platforms on RT Sport show that women's sport at international level continues to grow, excel and inspire. This growth must be matched now at national level to provide the legacy the tournament deserves and the platform for further participation growth.
Meanwhile there were 10 million page views of FIFA Women's World Cup content on RT .ie/Sport and the RT News app, with the first two Ireland live blogs reaching 500,000 for the opener against Australia and 439,000 for the second group game v Canada. Both live blogs currently rank among the top 20 sport articles of the year. The Women's World Cup podcast has had over 70,000 streams on RT platforms, Spotify, Apple and YouTube while the RT Soccer podcast had approximately another 12,000 streams.
RT 's longstanding commitment to the Republic of Ireland's women's team continues with coverage of their Nations League campaign beginning next month with live coverage across RT platforms of the game against Northern Ireland the WNT's first game in the Aviva Stadium.
The FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 in numbers:
Coverage of the Women's World Cup on RT television reached 2.4m people, or 53% of the TV population (1+ minute cumulative reach, live match coverage plus highlights)
The highest rating match on TV was Ireland's second group game against Canada. It was the most watched women's team sporting event in Irish TV history with an average of 551,000 viewers on RT 2
Excluding Ireland games, the average share of viewing on TV was 20.7% which was more than double the 8.9% average share on RT for the Women's World Cup in 2019 (live play)
Total streams on RT Player exceeded 1.3m across the tournament (live matches plus highlights; live streaming and vod), while average streams per match were more than double the number seen for the Women's World Cup in 2019*
Ireland's opening match against Australia was the biggest live event of the year on RT Player with 368,000 live streams, and the second highest live streamed event ever on the platform**
The World Cup final, which saw Spain crowned world champions for the first time, was watched by an average of 333,000 people on RT 2, yielding a 48.3% share of viewing. It registered 69,400 live streams on RT Player
*the average excludes Ireland matches
**Men's FIFA World Cup Final 2022 490,000Source: Nielsen/TAM (Live + VOSDAL, Inds 4+), Piano
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Ireland v Canada most watched women's team sport event in Irish TV history
