Figures from RTÉ show 3.4 million tuned into Olympics Games coverage, with finals involving Kellie Harrington and Rhasidat Adeleke the most viewed events.
On RTÉ Player, there were 7.2 million streams of the Olympic Games from July 24th to August 11th, with the top five streams coming in for Kellie Harrington’s gold medal win, Rashidat Adeleke’s 400m final, Daniel Wiffin’s bronze in the 1500m, Rhys McClenegan’s gold win, and the 400m women’s relay respectively.
On RTÉ2, the top three most-watched events were:
- Kellie Harrington winning Gold in Women's 60kg Boxing final - peak viewership of 1.4 million.
- Rhasidat Adeleke placing fourth in Women's 400m - peak viewership of 926,000.
- Ireland placing fourth in Women's 4x400m Relay - peak viewership of 910,000.
Other TV highlights for viewers in Ireland across the Games included Mona McSharry's bronze medal swim on Monday, July 29th, which peaked at 621,000 viewers on RTÉ 2, while Fintan McCarthy and Paul O'Donovan's back-to-back Olympic-winning performance in the lightweight rowing on Friday, August 2nd, was seen by a peak audience of 429,000.
On Saturday, August 3rd, a peak audience of 629,000 tuned in as gymnast Rhys McClenaghan secured gold on the pommel horse. Sunday, August 4th, saw Daniel Wiffin add to his gold in the 800m Freestyle swimming with a bronze in the 1,500m Freestyle watched by a peak of 790,000.
The Olympics opening ceremony had an average audience of 443,000 viewers (Live + Vosdal), the closing ceremony had an average of 346,000 viewers.
Yesterday’s homecoming, broadcast live on RTÉ One from O’Connell Street, welcomed the athletes back home with an average audience of over 200,000 and 43,000 streams to date on RTÉ Player. Across the entire Games on RTÉ television, 3.4 million people in Ireland tuned in for at least 1 minute to watch coverage.
RTÉ Group head of sport, Declan McBennett, said: "Paris 2024 was a remarkable Olympic Games in every sense with truly unforgettable moments created by the largest ever Irish team. The level of engagement from the Irish public was unprecedented for the world's greatest sporting event and RTÉ was privileged to play a part in that across all platforms."
RTÉ director-general Kevin Bakhurst said: “From the opening ceremony to the homecoming, our job in RTÉ was to ensure the public in Ireland could enjoy and experience all the excitement and spirit of Paris 2024, bringing every moment to our audiences, and in so doing offering a powerful national showcase for the incredible journey of Team Ireland’s 133 athletes - competing across a wider array of sports than ever before – on every platform, around the clock."
