Consolation for some in number of tv viewers glued to Ireland's World Cup heartbreak
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IT'S a month to the day since Ireland's world came crashing down against the All Blacks at the Stade de France - but the Rugby World Cup quarter-final offered consolation for some.
Virgin Media's live coverage of the game from Paris was the most watched television programme in Ireland this year, its 1.378 million viewers also the best number VM have delivered for a single output since it first aired 25 years ago.
Virgin and RTE shared the top four viewership spots from the seven-week long tournament, and end-of-year figures will support the emotional hold the World Cup had on the Irish viewing public this autumn.
The All Black quarter final, which Ireland lost 28-24, thus denying RTE a semi-final exclusive involving Ireland, ranked first with Ireland's pool victory over eventual champions Soth Africa next best for average viewing figures for RTE at 1.22m. Third best was Virgin's live coverage of Ireland's final pool game against Scotland (1.193m) with perhaps the most surprising number being the almost one million who tuned into Ireland's victory over Tonga on RTE (965,000).
The dramatic South Africa-England World Cup semi-final delivered just south of 780,000 for Virgin.
This Rugby World Cup was the first shared venture, at least formally, between Montrose and Ballymount, with both covering the final itself between South Africa and New Zealand on October 28th. For that RTE enjoyed a 44% audience share with an average live audience of 683,000, peaking at 842,000. Virgin Media averaged 332,000, peaking at 405,000 for a 21% share.
There were other noteworthy audience numbers for games not involving Ireland. RTE drew 683,000 for its quarter-final coverage of France's defeat to South Africa the night after Ireland's exit, while Ireland's opener against the Romanians had 577,000 watching on Virgin.