Football final nets huge TV audience

Tyrone’s All Ireland SFC final victory against Kerry on Sunday was watched by an average audience of 887,000 on RTÉ Two, equating to a 73% share of the available audience.

At its peak, over 1.1 million viewers were tuning into the match on RTÉ Two.

The average audience for the match was up 20% on last year’s football final, which was watched by 743,000 viewers, and puts this year’s final at number 3 in the top-10 programmes broadcast in Ireland this year, alongside the All-Ireland hurling final at number 8 and the Republic of Ireland soccer team's World Cup Qualifier against France at number 10.

The top five hurling figures this season were:

Kilkenny v Wexford (Leinster final) - 362,000

Kilkenny v Limerick (All-Ireland quarter-final) - 383,000

Cork v Waterford (All-Ireland quarter-final) - 434,000

Cork v Clare (All-Ireland semi-final) - 440,000

Kilkenny v Galway (All-Ireland semi-final) - 492,000

Outside of the final, the top five football figures this season were:

Kerry v Limerick (Munster SFC) – 362,000

Dublin v Meath (Leinster SFC) – 453,000

Kerry v Mayo (All-Ireland quarter-final) – 461,000

Cork v Kerry (All-Ireland semi-final) – 473,000

Armagh v Tyrone (All-Ireland semi-final) – 551,000

Glen Killane, RTÉ Head of Sport, said: "GAA is consistently the most watched sport on RTÉ Television and these figures are indicative of the phenomenal demand from our audience for live coverage of the All Ireland Championships on free-to-air television."