Fears that the failure of the Republic of Ireland to qualify for the World Cup Finals would lead to less interest have been firm;y put away by figures released by RTE which show record levels of engagement with the biggest sporting event in the world.
The 56 Live games shown on RTÉ Two averaged 335,300 per match, an increase of 28% on 2010.
The World Cup Final averaged 857,000 viewers with a 55.73% share, again an increase on the Spain vs Netherlands final of 2010, this time of 13%. The peak audience was 1,280,600 making it the most watched TV programme of the year so far in 2014.
Highest
It represents the highest audience for a World Cup Final since USA ’94 and was added to by the retirement from our screens of Bill O’Herlihy which will have brought back many viewers who might have been tempted away by BBC coverage of the game.
These numbers will go down well with Hyundai who cam on board as Broadcast sponsors of the tournament and it will be interesting to track their sales figures over the second half of the year to see whether the increased brand awareness delivered in terms of direct revenues.
In Digital terms the tournament was a big winner for RTÉ as well.
There were 2.5 million streams delivered through the RTE Player on Desktop, Laptop, Tablet and Mobile over the course of the four weeks of the tournament. That represents a 250% increase on the 700,000 streams delivered four years ago. Even for Euro 2012 the number of streams was less than a million.
Engagement
The changing nature of engagement from viewers and fans is evidenced by the fact that over 50% of the five million impressions on the official RTSport website dedicated to the tournament came through mobile and tablet use. One third of the live streams also came through Mobile or Tablet channels.
The first iPad was only released two months before the start of the 2010 World Cup Finals.
Acting Group Head of RTÉ Sport Cliona O’Leary said:
“It’s a source of great pride to everybody in RTÉ Sport that audiences have, once again, chosen in huge numbers to view our coverage of a major global sporting event.
“We are particularly pleased that they have followed our free-to-air programming onto the various digital platforms in such high numbers.
“With so many different options available to audiences these days the record numbers watching RTÉ Sport’s coverage on television, online, mobile, and live or on-demand on RTÉ Player, is a testament to the creativity and hard work of our team – both on and off-camera. It also provided a very fitting finale to the illustrious career of our friend and colleague, Bill O’Herlihy.”
Top 10 games on RTÉ Two:
| Rank | Match | Audience 000’s | Average Share |
| 1 | Germany V Argentina | 857.5 | 55.70% |
| 2 | Netherlands V Argentina | 695.9 | 49.10% |
| 3 | Brazil V Germany | 587.4 | 42.30% |
| 4 | Uruguay V England | 572.4 | 41.90% |
| 5 | Brazil V Croatia | 533.7 | 39.30% |
| 6 | Netherlands V Costa Rica | 479.3 | 35.30% |
| 7 | Germany V Algeria | 476.2 | 39.50% |
| 8 | Brazil V Netherlands | 472.4 | 35.10% |
| 9 | Brazil V Colombia | 449.7 | 34.40% |
| 10 | Spain V Netherlands | 399.3 | 29.90% |
