The Late Late Toy Show is Most Watched Show of the Year

The Late Late Toy Show is Most Watched Show of the Year

Over 1.5 million watch Late Late Toy Show on RT One across weekend, with record viewers from over 100 countries on RT Player

More than 1.5 million people watched The Late Late Toy Show on RT One this weekend, cementing the show's place as the Irish television event of the year and making it the most-watched programme on Irish television for 2018.

The Greatest Showman themed show, hosted by Ryan Tubridy, was watched by an average audience of over 1.3 million live* on the night, a 74 per cent share** of the audience watching television at the time (and an 89 per cent share among children). A further 141,700 viewers watched their recording of the show on Saturday and 51,9000 viewers did the same on Sunday. In addition, 113,000 watched the repeat viewing on RT One on Saturday.

The show had a reach*** on RT One of over 1.8 million viewers who tuned in for a minute or more of the broadcast on Friday night, and reached 1.9 million over the weekend.

On RT Player the show had record numbers, with 116,000 live streams, up 33% on last year, and over 100,000 watching on catch-up. The show was watched in over 100 countries outside of Ireland with viewers logging on across the globe including Myanmar, Burundi, Haiti and Mongolia.

This year's show was celebrated on social media with #LateLateToyShow trending worldwide on Twitter on Friday night and across the weekend. The highlights were Michael meeting Davy Fitz, and young Scott who donated bone marrow to his cousin Grace, with these clips getting over a million views between Facebook and Twitter. Overall, Late Late Toy Show videos on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have had over 1.5 million views to date.

Host Ryan Tubridy said: I am blown away every single year at the reaction we get to The Late Late Toy Show. As a team, we are so honoured that people open their arms and welcome us in for such a magical night, and I sincerely hope it was as much fun for our viewers as it was for me on Friday. The production team and the children are what make the Toy Show special and memorable and I want to thank everyone involved, from little star Michael to our heroes Grace and Scott, to the set and costume designers. I'm delighted viewers loved it as much as we did.'

Late Late Toy Show producer Eimear O'Mahony said: With the Greatest Showman as our theme this year, we really wanted to showcase inclusivity, and I hope viewers will agree that we achieved that. We are thrilled that so many people tuned in on the night to see children from all parts of Irish society shine like the stars that they are they are the true essence of what makes the Toy Show so special!'

RT Director of Audiences, Channels and Marketing, Adrian Lynch said: These are phenomenal viewing figures across television and Player for what has become one of the biggest dates of the year in the RT calendar. This year's show did not disappoint, and this is down to the tireless work of the entire Toy Show team who blew it out of the water.'

For more information: Anne-Louise Foley, Communications Manager (acting), RT Television; T: (01) 208 3298, 085 1288911, foleya@rte.ie

Notes to Editors:

Last year, in 2017, approx 1.3 million people watched The Late Late Toy Show over the weekend (Live plus Vosdal, plus Saturday and Sunday catch-up)

Ratings Source: TAM Ireland Ltd / Nielsen TAM

*Average audience (Live+VOSDAL Live + Viewed on Same Day As Live) The average number of viewers across a programme or series, expressed in 000s. TV viewing is measured minute-by-minute, so the average audience is the average across all of these minutes.

**Share - The percentage of the total audience watching television at the time.

***Reach, Live + VOSDAL Reach is the number of people who tuned in for at least a minute of the show.

LINK:	https://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2018/1203/1014...
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