Each Wednesday we take a look at the world of Irish sports media, the stories, the numbers and the organisations that are, more than ever before, our window on the world of sport…

HURLING HITS A HIGH

The Sunday Game Live produced the highest GAA viewership of the year so far with an average of 534,000 and a peak of 648,000 tuning in to see Limerick secure a place in the Final by seeing off the challenge of Galway.

This represented 47 per cent of the available audience and 200,000 more at the peak than had tuned in to the same time slot the previous week for the Ulster Final victory of Cavan over Donegal.

There was a similar lift for the Saturday highlight with an average of 414,000 and a peak of 541,000 watching Waterford overcome Kilkenny.

That 32% share of the Saturday night audience was down on the share that tuned into see Dublin against Meath the previous week though the absolute number was 26,000 higher in the average and 120,000 more at the peak.

IRELAND VIEWERS DIP FOR GEORGIA

Winning teams draw bigger interest and Ireland’s defeat to England last week, as well as the perceived lesser attraction of a match against Georgia, saw the viewing audience dip for RTÉ’s coverage of Saturday’s Guinness Autumn Series clash at the Aviva.

The average number tuning in was a little over half last week’s audience at 276,000 with a peak of 331,000 compared to 564,000 who tuned into the game from Twickenham.

It will be interesting to observe the numbers that come back for the Final match this coming weekend against Scotland in what is effectively a playoff for third and fourth places in the tournament.

WOMEN’S ACTION DRAWS SIX FIGURE AUDIENCE

It may not be as high yet but the peak audience for each of the three semi-finals in the Liberty Insurance Camogie All Ireland and the TG4 Ladies Football All-Ireland all hit six-figures.

Galway against Tipperary in the second Camogie Semi-Final hit a high of 151,200 and an average of 123,000 on Saturday afternoon.

This followed on from a peak of 101,000 and an average of 67,000 for Cork against Kilkenny in the 1215 slot.

The third big game on Saturday drew a peak of 105,500 viewers for TG$ as Dublin secured a Final place with the defeat of Armagh in Cavan. The average number tuning in was 59,200 while the reach obtained through social media and other channels was estimated by TG4 to have hit 235,000.

THANKSGIVING COVID HIT FOR NBC

Part of the Thanksgiving tradition in the United States is sitting down to watch an NFL football game. The matches regularly draw massive audiences of in the region of 40 million.

This year’s primetime clash between the high flying Pittsburgh Steelers and the Baltimore Ravens had to be pushed back five days because of multiple Covid-19 positive tests.

That meant NBC had a big hole to fill in its schedule and in its revenue forecasts.

Last year’s game in the same slot attracted TV ad spending of a staggering $70.9 million in ad sales.

The power of sport to attract live audiences and high-end ad spend, as well as the impact of Covid, have rarely been seen in such stark relief.

PRINT MEDIA SPORTS ANALYSIS

Tomorrow on Sport for Business we will publish a review of the sports coverage from last Saturday across a selection of the Irish print media. It will point out a number of differences in terms of the breadth of coverage given over by each to the wide variety of sport that was on the agenda for that weekend.

Join us every Friday morning for our popular and essential guide to everything you can watch each weekend; every Wednesday for our Weekly Media Matters column; and every day for the latest on the commercial world of Irish sport.

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