Over one million tuned into RTÉ for World Cup shootout

The national broadcaster reached a viewership of 1.03 million at 5.54pm when the duel between superstars Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé reached a nail-biting penalty shootout climax

CLINCHER: Argentina's Gonzalo Montiel scores the winning goal during the penalty shoot out following the FIFA World Cup final at Lusail Stadium, Qatar. Pic: Mike Egerton/PA Wire

A peak audience of over one million watched RTÉ’s live coverage of Sunday’s Argentina’s epic World Cup final victory over France.

The national broadcaster covered all 64 games of the tournament in Qatar, reaching a viewership of 1.03 million at 5.54pm when the duel between PSG superstars Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé reached a nail-biting penalty shootout climax.

Boasting a 59% market share, the final was watched in its entirety on RTÉ2 by a record-breaking 780,000 viewers, augmented by another 478,000 total live streams on RTÉ Player.

An entertaining panel unquestionably contributed to the attraction, for presenter Joanne Cantwell drew diverse views from pundits Didi Hamann, Liam Brady, Damien Duff and Richie Sadlier on a plethora of topics around this unprecedented winter tournament, both on and off the pitch.

Over the four-week period, record numbers tuned in to over 200 hours of World Cup coverage across television, player and radio live from Qatar showcasing the best that football had to offer.

The road to the final saw huge audiences as Argentina’s semi-final victory over Croatia was the most-watched match on RTÉ2 which had an average audience of 784,000.

Unsurprisingly, the quarter-final pairing of England against France was in third overall place, thronged with a 760,000 average audience. The second semi-final between France and Morocco was the fourth biggest match on RTÉ2 scoring 632,000 viewing average.

Football fans in transit stayed loyal to their domestic broadcaster, activating 8.5 million total streams across the tournament.

This represents a spike of 240% on live streams from the Euro 2020 tournament and a 47% increase from the 2018 World Cup.

Sunday’s World Cup Final had 478k live streams with viewers tuning in from all around the country to make it a record-breaking tournament for RTÉ Player.

Since the World Cup began on November 20, RTÉ Player has had 15 million streams in total.

Group Head of RTÉ Sport, Declan McBennett, said: "The 'Messi v Mbappe' World Cup final brought about audience engagement at unprecedented levels and is a tribute to the professionalism of those involved from presenters, pundits and production teams. The comprehensive coverage of primarily a wonderful sporting tournament while addressing the backdrop of social and political issues was embraced by the audience and will live long in the memory."