Operational Review (continued)
A Year in Review | RTÉ Sport
500
hours of original sport
programming in 2015
38
We Take
You There
RTÉ Sport is at the centre of Ireland’s sporting life,
delivering award-winning coverage to the nation,
free-to-air.
About RTÉ Sport
RTÉ is the leading provider of broadcast and online sport content in
Ireland. Across multiple and growing platforms, RTÉ Sport provides
audiences in Ireland with free-to-air coverage and analysis of major and
niche domestic sport and international fixtures and tournaments.
Rté Annual Report & Group Financial Statements 2015
39
Operational Review (continued)
A Year in Review | RTÉ Sport
Television’s Best Sporting Moments
RTÉ Sport brought audiences a succession of spectacular sporting
moments, free-to-air, in 2015.
We produced more than 500 hours of top-class coverage, much of it
focused on peak-time live broadcasts, including 31 games in the hurling
and football championships, as well as the camogie finals.
We produced more
than 500 hours of topclass coverage, much
of it focused on peaktime live broadcasts,
including 31 games in
the hurling and football
championships, as well
as the camogie finals.
We aired all of the men’s 6 Nations matches, the final and championship
winning match in the women’s 6 Nations and the Republic of Ireland’s
successful Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. We covered 19 Airtricity
League and FAI Cup matches, including the women’s and men’s FAI
Cup Finals. We also showed the men’s European and World Boxing
Championships.
Ireland’s 6 Nations titles (men and women) and the country’s first world
title in men’s amateur boxing resonated widely with audiences. Closer
to home, RTÉ Sport enjoyed growing audiences for the camogie finals
– shown live from Croke Park – and for the FAI Cup men’s and women’s
final, broadcast live from the Aviva Stadium.
GAA, rugby and soccer were among the top draws for audiences
in 2015. The Sunday Game Live – All-Ireland Football Final between
Dublin and Kerry had an average of 881,600 viewers (60.3% share).
The Kilkenny versus Galway hurling final was watched by an average of
741,900 people (60.4% share). The Dublin versus Mayo football semifinal replay attracted an average audience of 679,100 (60.7% share).
The Sunday
Game Live
Thank GAA
It’s Friday
Meanwhile, the second leg of the Republic of Ireland’s play-off qualifying
matches against Bosnia and Herzegovina was watched by an average
of 793,400 (40.2% share). The final group game versus Poland was
watched by an average of 772,100 people (41% share).
The top 6 Nations average ratings were Ireland’s games against:
1. England (760,300 viewers – 53.3%)
2. Scotland (702,900 viewers – 64.3%)
3. France (693,000 viewers – 52.6%)
4. The final between England and France, which resulted in Ireland lifting
the trophy (660,500 viewers – 54%).
5. Wales (574,900 viewers – 57.2%)
RTÉ Sport aired 24 live days of Irish horse racing on television and
online.
Constantly Improving
All live RTÉ Sport television productions are now broadcast in high
definition (HD) – horse-racing coverage was added in the summer. In
2015, all sports broadcasts moved into a larger studio, making them
more cost effective. The Sunday Game was re-launched with a new
graphics suite, which will be rolled out on other sports programmes
during 2016.
Saying Farewell
Some well-known RTÉ Sport personalities retired in 2015. Tom McGurk
and George Hook made their last appearances on RTÉ’s 6 Nations
coverage. We also saw the passing of one of the country’s best-loved
broadcasters, Bill O’Herlihy.
40
Unrivalled Radio
RTÉ broadcast more than a thousand hours of live radio sport,
commentary, analysis, sports news and discussion. Sports bulletins and
longer segments were a feature on all daytime programmes. There was
more in-depth coverage in Game On on RTÉ 2fm on weekdays and, at
weekends, on Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport, the two most-popular
radio sports shows in the country.
In a competitive environment, RTÉ Sport maintained its unrivalled
suite of live broadcast rights, including exclusive or primary coverage
of all the main GAA competitions (including the leagues and the club
championships). We also retained exclusive live radio rights to the 6
Nations and Rugby World Cup, as well as live coverage of Ireland’s
competitive soccer internationals in the Euro 2016 qualifying campaign.
There was extensive live reporting from all four golf majors and the Irish
Open. In horse racing, there was live coverage of major races from Irish
festivals, Cheltenham and other major meetings.
RTÉ Sport was at the vanguard of radio coverage of women’s sport.
There was live commentary and updates from international soccer and
rugby matches, as well as from the All-Ireland inter-county Camogie and
Ladies Football Championships.
A Record Year Online
In 2015, RTÉ Sport had a record year online, with page views up 58%
since 2014. RTÉ Sport recorded the highest numbers ever on each of
the platforms – RTÉ.ie desktop and mobile and the RTÉ News Now app.
The All-Ireland final between Dublin and Kerry proved the single mostpopular sporting event online in 2015. It was closely followed by the final
day of the 6 Nations and the football replay between Dublin and Mayo
in early September. These events were complemented by Ireland’s
qualification for Euro 2016, the Irish games in the Rugby World Cup and
Conor McGregor’s title fight in Las Vegas in December.
For the first time, our online audience passed the 2.1 million unique user
mark (from a high of 1.4 million in 2014). More than 70% of traffic was on
mobiles. Podcasting continued to grow: each of the regular podcasts on
GAA, soccer and rugby enjoyed record numbers on iTunes and the RTÉ
Sport channel on Soundcloud.
Commissioned and original columns from sports stars – including
Conor O’Shea, Sonia O’Sullivan, Tomás Mulcahy, Bernard Jackman and
David Gillick – brought an added dimension to our coverage of major
events. There was increased engagement on each of our leading social
platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
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