Sport dominated Television Audience Measurement (TAM) Ireland and Nielsen's list of the top 50 most-watched television programmes in 2024, taking nine of the top 10 places behind The Late Late Toy Show.
More than 1.5m people tuned in to the annual Toy Show on RTÉ One in December, and the programme took its customary place at the top of the most-watched list, and all of the Ireland men's Six Nations made the top 10, too.
The victory over France (1.08m) on Virgin Media One was one of only two other events to be watched by more than 1m viewers, along with the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final between Clare and Cork (1.05m), which went to extra time.
Ireland's narrow Six Nations defeat to England (974,400) and England's loss to Spain in the Euro 2024 final (918,100), both on RTÉ 2, rounded out the top five, and the All-Ireland football final was sixth with 889,600 viewers.
A block of four rugby matches completed the top 10, including the Six Nations games with Italy (885,900), Scotland (874,700) and Wales (872,400) and the autumn international against New Zealand (870,300).
The next-highest non-sporting event on the list was the I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! final (681,500) on Virgin Media One, which beat out both the Eurovision Song Contest (674,200) and a recent episode of Room to Improve (664,300).
Two broadcasts of the RTÉ News also featured in the top 20, and were watched by 669,400 and 654,000 people, respectively.
Other notable programmes to make the list include the Prime Time Leaders' Debate (26th with 551,700), which was out-watched by an episode of Dancing with the Stars (25th 558,300), and The Rose of Tralee (27th 543,400).
The documentary, Bishop Casey's Buried Secrets was watched by 514,900 people on RTÉ One, and the most-viewed episode of Mrs Brown's Boys received an audience of 476,300.
A total of 10 Euro 2024 matches made the top 50, along with two Nations League marches, and five GAA matches on The Saturday/Sunday Game, while the Olympics also performed well and had "a very broad appeal," according to TAM Ireland/Nielsen.
Overall, commercial TV viewing was up 4%, with total commercial impact rising 7% and revenue in the first 10 months of 2024 increasing 5.5% year-on-year.
Viewers spent an average of three hours and 23 minutes watching video content on their TV set every day, of which 77% was accounted for by broadcasters, 10% by streamers such as Netflix and Disney+, and 4% by YouTube.
“It’s fantastic to see the place that Television holds in the hearts of the nation. As programme choice continues to expand so too does our appetite for content," said Jill McGrath, CEO of TAM Ireland.
"The content produced by TV broadcasters continues to drive conversations and shared experiences across the nation, with relevance being at the heart of its appeal.
"It’s no surprise that TV continues to dominate the Irish media landscape and we look forward to another year of fantastic TV content being delivered to the nation across multiple platforms.”
Photo: Ronan Kelleher of Ireland (obscured) scores his team's fifth try during the Guinness Six Nations 2024 match between France and Ireland at Orange Velodrome on February 02, 2024 in Marseille, France. (Pic: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
