Ian Mallon: Irish television audiences are suckers for a punch-up
FIGURES: Irish television audiences are suckers for a punch-up. Photo: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
YES it’s ugly, it’s unsavoury and it’s not great for the GAA and its stakeholders. But the Irish sports viewer is enthralled by violence on the GAA pitch and particularly when an epic battle on the pitch becomes all-out war - and here’s why.
For the Galway v Armagh All Ireland quarter final at Croke Park on June 26, a third of the overall audience tuned in to watch the end of the game than had viewed the match throughout (on average), as both sets of players and benches embarked on a free-for-all at the tunnel.
The Nielsen figures provided by RTÉ to The Pitch, showed an average audience of 394k watched the game overall, the smallest number to watch that match and the subsequent All Ireland semi-finals in both hurling and football.
However, once things got physical at the end, that number shot up to a peak of 581k, the second-highest (after Dublin v Kerry), buoyed by social media reports of the fight which was taking place at the final whistle.
Peak figures for games will always outweigh average audiences, but matches that go to the wire, or in this case end up in utter chaos, will experience enormous surges for the closing stages.
Such upward shifts saw 709k tuning in to watch Kerry’s Seanie O’Shea’s epic last-gasp free against Dublin last Sunday, a lift of more than 120k on the average audience of 588k which tuned in.
The Dublin-Kerry numbers are so high due to some obvious factors – primarily the large audience that the Dubs encourage, the fact that this was a clash with its greatest rival, along with the mass appeal that Kerry brings across the country.
The second-highest audience for this year’s All-Ireland semi-finals came with Limerick’s epic clash with Galway in the hurling, which saw an average audience of 482k tuning in, with a peak of 578k by the end.
Sunday June 26: Galway v Armagh (football): Average 394,000; Share 55%; Peak 581,000 (17.37).
Saturday July 2: Clare v Kilkenny (hurling): Average 408,000; Share 48%; Peak 465,000 (18.50).
Sunday July 3: Galway v Limerick (hurling): Average 482,000; Share 55%; Peak 578,000 (17.04).
Saturday July 9: Galway v Derry (football): Average 446,000; Share 52%; Peak 540,000 (19.07).
Sunday July 10: Kerry v Dublin (football): Average 588,000; Share 61%; Peak 709,000 (17.13)
