The streaming World Cup: how Irish football fans are watching the action from Qatar

Germany versus Spain was the most-watched game in the first week of RTÉ coverage.

Clare McNamarra discusses Monday's action with Stephen Kelly, Liam Brady and Richie Sadlier.

Sunday night’s primetime clash of Spain and Germany was the most-watched World Cup game in the first week of RTÉ's coverage. 

The 1-1 draw in Group E had an Irish TV viewership of 521,000 viewers on average, and an audience share of 38%.

And at a tournament which has seen more and more of us watching the action throughout the day on the RTÉ Player, the game attracted 131,000 streams on the platform.

The 28 games so far have generated 3.1 million live streams in total on the online platform – an average of 112,000 live streams per game. 

And football fans have been keeping tabs on the games in Qatar while on the move with 53% of RTÉ's World Cup live streams coming from smartphones.

Though some viewers considered if they’d engage fully with the controversial tournament before the kickoff last Sunday week, the station says the viewing figures are healthy and rising through each day’s broadcast.

An average of 495,000 viewers tuned in to watch the 0-0 draw between USA and England on Friday, with a 40% share of those watching TV at the time tuning in, plus 134,000 streams on the RTÉ Player.

The Three Lions' opener against Iran – which kicked off at lunchtime last Monday week – attracted just 156,000 TV viewers in comparison, while Wales and USA that night drew in 408,000.

On Saturday, Argentina’s 2-0 win over Mexico attracted 424,000 TV viewers while also prompting 118,000 live streams on the RTÉ Player.

The underwhelming pairing in the curtain-raising game between Ecuador and hosts Qatar brought in a Sunday afternoon TV audience of 283,000.

Last Wednesday’s early game between Morocco and Croatia earned the lowest TV audience, according to RTÉ stats. That scoreless draw in Group F was watched by an average audience of 59,000 people.

The figures then grew throughout the day for Germany v Japan at lunchtime (average of 128,000), Spain v Costa Rica (214,000) and the 7pm kick-off of Belgium v Canada (333,000).

The most-watched game to date on the RTÉ Player was Argentina v Saudi Arabia last Tuesday with 255,000 live streams.