Rose TV viewing figures are wilting

NUMBERS WATCHING ROSE TV SHOW HAVE PLUNGED BY NEARLY HALF

RTE are likely to be concerned at the massive drop in the number of people tuning in to watch the Rose of Tralee on TV.

In the last eight years the numbers watching the pageant broadcast halve plunged by almost half.

While 1,023,000 people tuned in to RTE to see London Rose Claire Kambumettu crowned in 2010 there were just 564,000 watching when Kirsten Mate Maher was named this year’s winner last week.

That represents a total drop of 48 per cent in just eight years.

Year on year the difference was also stark. While there was an annual drop of around 20,000 for the previous four years this year’s peak audience was 156,000 less than 2017.

The fall in peak viewing figures – ie those who tuned in for a few minutes to watch the announcement of the winner – it is the fall in general viewers that should concern RTE the most .

According to RTE statistics an average of 479,000 people were tuned in during the second half of Tuesday’s selection night.

That’s compared to 916,000 in 2010 the year viewing figures reached their recent peak.

Again it represents a drop of 48 per cent in eight years.

Some solace can be taken from the Rose’s online viewership. It has remained relatively steady for the last few years with around 115,000 typically tuning into various Rose of Tralee related streams and videos via the RTE Player web app.

In all 111,000 watched the Rose on these streams this year with about 34,000 of those streams viewed outside Ireland.

The Rose of Tralee was also the number one show trending on twitter in Ireland on both nights proving that whatever about the falling TV audience the show continues to be hugely popular on social media.