RT Delivers 44 of the Top 50 Most Watched TV Programmes in Ireland in 2022 as Irish Content Beats International Competition
RT Player has record breaking 2022 with 83.3 million streams
RT Sport, Entertainment, News & Current Affairs, Drama, Factual programmes and documentaries among most watched
In 2022, Irish audiences continued to choose Irish content above international fare as the viewing figures for 2022 released by TAM Ireland/Nielsen Media demonstrate.
49 of the Top 50 most watched TV programmes by Irish audiences were home-produced. 1
RT provided 44 of the 50 most watched TV programmes in 20221, as audiences engaged with live sport, entertainment, trusted news, gripping factual programmes, Irish documentaries and local drama.
Even with the increased availability of international streaming services, TAM Ireland research shows that the average Irish adult in a TV home watches 2 hours 35 mins of broadcaster content on a TV set every day, 85% of which is live and 15% watched as catch up.2
Looking at total viewing across all devices, 70% of the Irish audiences daily viewing is of broadcaster content, 11% with streaming services such as Netflix etc. and 19% with video sharing platforms such as YouTube and Tik-Tok.3
RT 's mix of live and on-demand services have both proven hugely popular this year. RT Player served a record breaking 83.3 million streams in 20224 with a mix of sport, Irish and international drama, news, entertainment and factual programmes.
The Late Late Toy Show retained pole position at the top of the Irish TV viewing chart with over 1.5 million viewers enjoying the quintessentially live and Irish collective viewing experience.
2022 saw Irish viewers enthralled with national and international sport with nine of the top ten most watched programmes all free-to-air sport. The All-Ireland Senior Football Final (872,000) was the second most watched programme overall. RT 's GAA Championship coverage saw our national games net 8 of the top 50 programmes, while The Saturday/Sunday Game Live attracted over 1.6 million streams on RT Player during the year.
RT Sport's coverage of FIFA World Cup 2022 scored hugely with Irish fans with over 8.2 million streams of the tournament on RT Player and 13 of the Top 50 most watched TV programmes of the year on TV. Argentina V Croatia (784,000) and Argentina v France (783,700) on RT 2 scored 5th and 6th place respectively on the most watched TV programmes table.
Irish audiences continued to love Irish local drama in 2022 with Fair City (482, 700) and Clare-based Smother (425,000) being the only drama to make the Top 50 most watched TV programmes. RT Player saw audiences engage with a mix of the best of Irish and international drama, with drama programmes delivering 13 of the Top 25 most streamed programmes on the service.
2022 also saw Irish audiences come together for feelgood entertainment and heart-warming Irish stories with The Late Late Show (Jan 14, 567,000), NYE Countdown with Westlife (557,000), Dancing With The Stars (Jan 9, 544,000), Rose of Tralee (516,000), The Tommy Tiernan Show (Jan 8, 499,000), Ireland's Fittest Family (Nov 11, 447,000), DIY SOS (Apr 3, 450,000), Reeling in the Years (Jan 4, 447,000) and Operation Transformation (Jan 26, 440,000) all scoring a place in the Top 50 most watched TV programmes.
Unique Irish stories captured Irish audiences' attention with RT programmes Quinn Country (29 November, 480,000), Crime and Confessions (Jan 24, 465,000) and RT Investigates (Feb 14, 499,000) all making the most watched TV programmes of 2022.
The public continued to choose RT for trusted News & Current Affairs in 2022 with the most watched news programme of the year on any channel being the RT Six One News on January 21 with 655,000 viewers watching, as the Taoiseach announced the end of Covid restrictions from the following day. The RT Nine O'Clock News on February 27 had 593,000 viewers as President Putin ordered Russian nuclear forces to be on alert on day four of the invasion of Ukraine. The two evening bulletins collectively also generated almost 4 million streams on the RT Player throughout the year.
RT Director of Content, Jim Jennings said, RT exists to serve Irish audiences and it's heartening to see that Irish audiences chose Irish content above all else and that RT 's content continues to score so highly. The audience is always top of mind for us when commissioning and creating programming whether that be sport, drama, documentaries or factual programming. We thank our partners in sport and in the independent production sector for working with us as we look forward to continuing to deliver a unique mix of Irish content in 2023 .
Notes to Editors:
1. Source: TAM Ireland/Nielsen- Top 50 Programmes 2022
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.
(ie. Top 50 Most Watched Programmes is based on best performing episode of programme or series ie. Each programme is only included once and the rating only refers to this single episode.
2. Source: TAM Ireland/Nielsen, Adults 15+, Total TV, Avg. Mins per person, consolidated, all day, 2022.
3. Source: TAM Ireland/Nielsen Total Video Panel - Jan - Oct 2022
4. Source: AT Internet
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
RT Delivers 44 of the Top 50 Most Watched TV Programmes in Ireland in 2022 as Irish Content Beats International Competition
