Late Late Toy Show most watched - but TV3 has three in top five

The Late Late Toy Show was once again by far the most watched programme on Irish television last year.

An average of more than 1.5 million people watched some part of the programme, which was broadcast on Friday, November 27th. It amounted to an audience share of 72 per cent.

TV3's coverage of the Rugby World Cup saw them take the next three slots.

The Ireland vs France game attracted an audience of 1,155,200 viewers, closely followed by the Ireland vs Argentina quarter-final and Ireland vs Italy.

All-Ireland football final

The top five was rounded off by the All-Ireland football final between Dublin and Kerry, which attracted an audience of 881,600 to RTÉ One.

RTÉ's drama series Charlie was the sixth most-watched programme with 851,700 viewers, followed by Ireland's second-leg qualifier against Bosnia and the match between Poland and Ireland.

The top 10 was completed by Mrs Brown's Boys - Mammy's Widow's Memories and by the Rugby World Cup game between Ireland and England.

Home-produced content

Live sport accounted for 12 of the top 20 programmes of the year. Home-produced programmes continued to dominate the top of the ratings chart across all channels.

RTÉ One continues to be the most popular channel in the country for all audiences with a channel share of 24.1 per cent, while RTÉ2 is in second place in its target demographic of 15- to 34-year-olds with a share of 8.7 per cent.

RTÉ Television managing director Glen Killane said: "2015 was a particularly competitive year for Irish television with a brand new Irish television channel coming into the market.

“Despite this, RTÉ delivered 15 of the Top 20 programmes of the year.”