Adam’s King of telly..
Late Late Toy Show featuring adorable 6- year- old most watched programme
THE Late Late Toy Show topped the box ratings again as the most- watched programme on Irish television in 2020.
According to newly- released figures, t he annual Chri stmas sp ectacular hosted by Ryan Tubridy – when Cork’s Adam King endeared himself to the nation with his space dream – once again came first on Ireland’s telly ratings, with an average of 1.7million viewers tuning in for the highly- praised show.
After a year like no other, the figures a l s o ref l ect ed how t he pandemic i mpacted people’s vi ewing habits and choices, with then Taoi s each Leo Varadkar’s ministerial St Patrick’s Day bro a dca st ra t i ng a s t h e s e c o n d m o s t - w a t c h e d programme of t he year, with 1.6 million viewers.
The RTE Nine O’clock news on the same evening was the third most- watched programme last year with 1.3million viewers.
As vi ewers f l ocked to their TVS f or updates and i nformation amid the ever - changing restrictions, this remained a recurring theme within the 2020 report, with News and Current Af f a i r s f e a t u r e d s t r o n g l y i n t h e most- watched programmes.
A range of RTE News bulletins – as well as Prime Time, Claire Byrne Live, RTE Investigates and coverage of the 2020 General Election – all featured in t h e To p 2 0 . Meanw h i l e , Mi r i a m O’callaghan’s takeover of The Late Late Show on March 27, in Ryan Tubridy’s absence, also came out on top, ranking at number six in the ratings and pulling in more than 875,000 viewers.
With t ri ps t o Croker out of t he question l ast year, t he Al l - Irel and Senior Hurling and Football Finals pulled in huge audiences, with the Christmas week clash between Dublin and Mayo garnering 876,600 viewers on December 19.
Ireland’s Six Nations clash with France in March also made the top 10, with 850,300 viewers tuning into the coverage on Virgin Media One.
Despite emerging as one of the most talked about TV moments of 2020, Normal People came i n 41st place, with over 495,000 f locking to their TVS.
However, the show – featuring Paul Mescal in his breakout role as Connell Waldron – topped the polls for the RTE Player with 818,000 streams for the top episode out of a total of five million streams of the series.
Unsurprisingly, The Late Late Toy