04 ROSE OF TRALEE IS A RATINGS SUCCE

2014 ROSE OF TRALEE IS A RATINGS SUCCESS

20 August 2014: The second night of the Rose of Tralee, presented by D ith S , proved to be another ratings success when an average of 694,000 tuned in after RT s Nine OClock News.

The crowning of the new Rose of Tralee drew a peak of 760,300**, with viewers watching a visibly shocked and thrilled Philadelphia Rose, Maria Walsh, named the 56th Rose of Tralee. There was a reach of nearly 1.7m*** viewers and a share of 50% of those watching television at the time.

Rose of Tralee host said D ith S : This is my fifth year presenting the Rose of Tralee and I felt the atmosphere around Tralee town leading up to the show was electric. Im delighted for this Year's Rose Maria. Her wonderful and unique personality really shone through during the week and also on stage. She will be a great ambassador for the Rose of Tralee

RT s executive producer for this year's Rose of Tralee show Michael Kealy said, The viewership figures for this year's show are fantastic. A share of 50% for the second night means 1 in 2 people in Ireland watching television at that time tuned in to The Rose of Tralee. Ever the professional D ith S 's energetic personality made the live event much more fun for the Roses! I wish the newly-crowned Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh all the best in future .

For fans in Ireland and worldwide, the Rose of Tralee Festival was also streamed live and is available on demand on RT Player www.rte.ie/player . A total of 62,200 streams have been recorded to date, with 28,049 of this being from the live online simulcasts on both nights.

There was also a large amount of international interest in the festival, with close to 40% of the streams delivered outside of Ireland. Internationally, the highest number of streams came from the UK, US and Canada. The Meet the Roses feature on RT Player also proved very popular with 30,500 streams.

Also this year capturing all of the back stage action and live reactions to the Rose of Tralee Festival, RT Player presented Live From The Red Room. Presented by Aidan Power, this streamed live on RT Player and attracted audiences of over 10,000 for the live streaming of the show.

Over the two nights 32 Roses took to the stage with the host D ith keeping the Roses on their toes. D ith also took part in an ice bucket challenge in aid of The Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association!

Rose of Tralee 2014 winner Maria Walsh said: I'm delighted to be crowned the Rose of Tralee. The calibre of of the 32 Roses from this year was phenomenal and it's an honour to represent the Roses and Festival.

Maria is a native of Boston but grew up in a small village called Shrule Co. Mayo. She relocated to Shrule with her family when she was 7 and returned back to the States in 2010. Maria studied Journalism and Visual Media in Griffith College Dublin and works as a Studio Manager for Anthropologie Group at the Navy Yard. An avid GAA player and supporter, Maria plays football for the Notre Dames Ladies.

LINK:	http://www.rte.ie/about/en/press-office/press-releases/2014/0820/63835...
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