Dermot’s fans demolish Late Late as his show tops ratings
ROOM to Improve has been king of the weekend entertainment slots on RTÉ for January – consistently outperforming The Late Late Show.
The long-running home improvement show has only been topped by the first episode of Dancing With The Stars (and news bulletins) in the weekend ratings stakes this year.
Last week’s episode, in which presenter Dermot Bannon assisted Sandra and Daniel Davey in Knocklyon, Dublin, clocked an impressive average viewership of 549,000.
That was 89,000 more than the 460,000 who had watched The Late
Late Show on Friday, January 19, despite the appearance of Hollywood actors Jamie Dornan, Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott on host Patrick Kielty’s revamped talk show.
In fact, that episode was watched by 19,000 fewer people than had tuned in the week before. For its first regular episode of the year, which featured Conan O’Brien and Graham Norton, The Late Late brought in an average of 479,000 on RTÉ 1 and RTÉ 1 +1.
Two nights later, 573,700 people watched Room to Improve on RTÉ 1 and RTÉ 1 +1.
Even The Late Late Show’s New Year’s Eve special did not draw as many viewers as episode one of Room to Improve – which was the leastwatched of the three episodes so far.
An average of 531,000 tuned into The Late Late New Year special, compared with 544,300 who watched episode one of the 14th season of Room to Improve.
The only entertainment show to outperform the home makeover series is the first episode of Dancing With The Stars, which brought in an average viewership of 576,400. A source in RTÉ described Room to Improve as a ‘juggernaut’ doing ‘phenomenal numbers’ for years.
Speaking to the Irish Mail on Sunday ahead of the launch of the season premiere, host Mr Bannon said he had ‘no idea’ if the show will be recommissioned for a 15th season.
He said: If your ratings drop, you’re done and that’s it. Theoretically for lifestyle shows, the natural end is four or five years – we’re in season number 14 now so it’s been a big achievement regardless what happens.’