Ireland’s 50 most-watched TV broadcasts of 2020 have been revealed

When Leo Varadkar said on March 17 last year that it was a “St. Patrick’s Day like no other,” it was hard to disagree with him.

Never before on St. Patrick’s Day had over 1.5 million people gathered in front of the TV  to watch a special Ministerial Broadcast delivered from the Taoiseach about an escalating pandemic situation and according to the newly-released TV figures for 2020, that’s around about the amount of people who tuned in.

The most-viewed broadcasts of 2020 have been revealed and Varadkar’s address came in second with 1,599,000 viewers tuning in. It was a year that was dominated by news broadcasts as the public looked to keep up with the ever-changing coronavirus situation, and this is reflected in the fact that three of the five most-watched broadcasts were either RTE News programmes or special Government addresses.

It’s no surprise what finished top of the pile with the Late Late Toy Show attracting a massive audience of 1,716,800, ahead of Varadkar’s St. Patrick’s Day broadcast which attracted 1,599,000. Next was the RTÉ Nine O’Clock News on the same day (March 17), followed by the Six O’Clock News on December 30 when the Government announced a new set of tighter Covid-19 measures.

The most popular sports broadcast was the All-Ireland Football Final between Dublin and Mayo on December 19, which attracted a viewership of 876,600 and finished fifth in the overall 2020 rankings.

On March 27, the nation learned of the first major set of Covid-19 restrictions, with people told to only travel 2km from home and the over-70s told to being “cocooning.” As we all tried to take the news in, that night’s Late Late Show attracted 875,900 viewers.

The live broadcast of the Government announcing those March 27 measures also made the top 10, as did the Six Nations clash between France and Ireland (Virgin Media), the All-Ireland Hurling Final and the January 5 episode of Room to Improve.

You can have a look at the full top 50 in the chart below and read more about the results here.

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