The crowning of the new Rose of Tralee drew a peak of 743,800* viewers as audiences tuned in to see a shocked and overwhelmed Chicago Rose named as the 58th Rose of Tralee. 59% of people watching television at the time were watching as Daithí Ó Sé made the eagerly awaited announcement.
Over the two days a reach of over 1.7 million** people tuned in to watch the Rose of Tralee making it one of the highest rating programmes of the year. Last night an average audience of 618,600*** tuned in after RTÉ One’s Nine O’ Clock news.
Speaking about this year’s Rose of Tralee, host Dáithí Ó Sé said: “It’s been another fantastic year at the Rose of Tralee. This is my seventh year hosting and each year it just seems to get better. The atmosphere over the last week leading into the live shows has been super. There’s just nothing like it. I’m delighted for Maggie. Her calm and caring nature really shone through over the last week – right through to on stage. She’ll certainly make an excellent ambassador for the festival.”
RTÉ’s executive producer of this year’s Rose of Tralee show Brian Páircéir said, “Viewership figures have been very strong again this year. With 1.7million** viewers tuning in over the two days to watch the Rose of Tralee it just proves once again just how popular it is with people watching at home.Ever the professional, Dáithí kept the Roses on their toes over the two nights of the live shows with his unique mix of lively banter and entertainment! I wish Maggie every success for the future in her role as the newly crowned Rose of Tralee.”
The Rose of Tralee’s popularity in Ireland and around the world continued on RTÉ Player and RTÉ Player International, with over 115,000 total worldwide streams to date, up 60% on the same period in 2015. 40% of live streams were served to international audiences, with the highest number of international streams coming from the UK, US and Germany.
Since Monday there were over 55,400 Twitter mentions for the Rose of Tralee proving that the live shows continue to be hugely popular on social media.
Over the two live shows 32 Roses took to the stage as Dáithí put them through their paces. Audiences at home and in the Dome were entertained with everything from rapping and drumming, to kickboxing and hoop dancing all topped off by the Cork Rose, Denise Collins, setting Dáithí on fire!
Speaking about her win the 2016 Rose of Tralee winner, Maggie McEldowney said: “I’m completely overwhelmed and so humbled to be crowned the 2016 Rose of Tralee. It is such an honour to take on the mantel as the new Rose of Tralee and to represent my friends and family. The last week has been one of the most amazing weeks I’ve ever had. It’s been an incredible experience, one which I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I’m really looking forward to the year ahead and representing the festival.”
Date: Wednesday 24 August 2016
For Further information please contact:
Melanie O’Connor, RTÉ TV Press Office, melanie.o’connor@rte.ie, 086 401 6053, 01 – 208 2787
Source for television figures: TAM Ireland Ltd/ Nielsen TAM, Live + VOSDAL data, National Individuals
Source for RTÉ Player figures: comScore DAx Analytics
*Peak-minute audience of 743,800 viewers was recorded at 23:12 last night
**Reach – the net number or percentage of people who have seen a particular piece of broadcast output. The TAM Ireland definition is 1+ minute. Over the two days 1,677,700 people tuned in to watch The Rose of Tralee, which is 41% of all Irish viewers (1 minute cumulative reach. Based on 10 Rose of Tralee programmes that aired on RTÉ One and RTÉ One+1 on 22-23 August 2016)
***Average audience – The average number of viewers across a programme or series, expressed in 000s. TV viewing is measured minute-by-minute, so the average audience is the average across all of these minutes