Audiences in Ireland tuned into the 2014 FIFA World Cup on RTÉ in record numbers, across RTÉ Two television, RTÉ Player and RTÉ.ie. It marked the highest television audience for a World Cup Final since USA ‘94.
On RTÉ Two television the 56 live games averaged 335,300 per match which represents a 28% increase on the viewing figures for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The Final itself which saw Germany beat Argentina after extra time attracted an average audience of 857,000 viewers, up 13% on 2010. The match peaked at 1,280,600 viewers. The 2014 World Cup Final also marked the end of a remarkable broadcasting career as Bill O’Herlihy presented coverage of his final game on RTÉ television.
Engagement via online and mobile was at an all-time high throughout the World Cup, with 2.5m streams in total across RTÉ Player and RTÉ.ie, compared to 700,000 for the World Cup in 2010, and 950,000 for Euro 2012. With three and a half times as many streams during WC 2014, more than one in three of these streams were on a mobile or tablet device. With nearly 5 million page impressions on the RTÉ Sport – FIFA World Cup site (website and RTÉ News Now App), over half of these page impressions came from a mobile or tablet device.
During the World Cup, the tournament accounted for more than half of all views on RTÉ Player. The majority of streams were watched live with over 93% of us enjoying the game as it happened on our Digital device. Unsurprisingly the top streamed games were the semi-finals, with an average daily stream of nearly 100,000, and the Germany v Argentina game peaking at nearly 166,000 streams. The top goal clips watched online on RTÉ.ie's dedicated World Cup site were Golden Ball winner Lionel Messi's goal for Argentina in their 2-0 victory over Bosnia Herzegovina and Tim Cahill's wonder volley for Australia against Netherlands.
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.”
Television viewing figures from TAM Ireland/Nielsen
Streaming figures from comScore Digital Analytix