Historic match makes for record audience

Six Nations Viewing Figures: An average of over one million viewers tuned into RTÉ on Saturday to witness Ireland beat England 43-13 at Croke Park.

These average numbers (1.052 million) are remarkable: they trump the peak figures for the Ireland v France game on February 4th, the soccer World Cup final in July and the All-Ireland hurling final in September, which were all just shy of the seven-digit figures.

The peak viewing was recorded in the 77th minute when 1.207 million people were tuned into the national broadcaster just as Isaac Boss crossed for Ireland's fourth try.

Unsurprisingly, it was the most watched television programme, not just confined to sport, on RTÉ this year.

Group head of sport Glen Killane said: "Saturday's historic match from Croke Park on RTÉ 2 truly captured the public's imagination. RTÉ Television's viewing figures prove that when an event such as this is freely available to all, sport can unite the country like nothing else."

Seventy per cent of those watching television on Saturday tuned into the coverage, anchored by Tom McGurk, from 5.40pm to the final whistle at 7.27pm. An average audience of 535,000 watched the entire coverage from 2.30pm to 10pm.

The average for the French game, which was the previous record, was 876,000, with a 997,000 peak, for Ireland's disappointing 20-17 defeat in the first rugby match at Croke Park.

Ireland have two remaining Six Nations fixtures, against Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday, March 10th and against Italy on St Patrick's Day in Rome. Both kick-offs are earlier, at 1.30pm.

Just to prove how momentous an occasion Saturday was on the Irish consciousness, the independent electricity system operator Eirgrid noted a decrease in demand similar to that experienced during the Ireland v Romania game at the soccer World Cup in 1990.

Because people were watching the match together in sitting rooms or public houses all over Ireland, lights or appliances in other rooms were not switched on and this meant the demand for electricity during the match was 100 megawatts less than on a normal Saturday at this time of the year.

That is the equivalent of 100,000 average light bulbs being switched off at the same time.

And the effect was also demonstrated by a temporary rise in demand at half-time as kettles all over the country were switched on, and also by another moderate increase at full-time when people went back to other rooms and switched on appliances or lights.