The number one is not surprising.
The Late Late Toy Show was the most watched TV programme in 2019, managing to get 1.54 million viewers.
Nearly a third of the country tuned in to catch Ryan Tubridy present what is now one of Ireland’s most popular traditions.
However, it was sporting events that dominated the top ten most viewed programmes of 2019 in Ireland, with seven of the top ten being either rugby or GAA games.
The number two spot was taken by the All-Ireland Football Final replay between Kerry and Dublin which stop just shy of one million viewers. The first game between the pair occupied the third spot on the list.
Ireland’s Six Nations clash with England was the highest rated Virgin Media show, with more than 980,000 people watching Joe Schmidt’s men lose heavily at the hands of the English.
The All-Ireland Hurling Final, the All-Ireland football semi-final between Mayo and Dublin, and Irish rugby matches against France and New Zealand also featured in the top ten.
Rounding out the non-sporting entries in the top ten were episodes of Room to Improve at number 10 and I’m a Celeb at number eight.
RTÉ dominated the list by taking 42 places in the top 50 programmes.
The highest-rating Six One News at 530,000 was on 4 November, the day Gay Byrne passed away while the highest-rating Prime Time of the year featured a special on the murder of Bobby Ryan with 511,000 viewers..
Speaking on the news, Adrian Lynch, Director of Channels, Marketing and Audiences said: ‘Coming together to pay tribute and to celebrate is one of the things RTÉ takes great pride in.
“The figures released today by TAM Ireland show that TV is very much a part of our daily lives and that, despite competition from other channels in Ireland, the UK and elsewhere, RTÉ programming is most popular with Irish audiences.”
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