RTÉ Entertainment
The Late Late Toy Show brings a smile to over 1.4 million Irish viewers
Friday night’s Late Late Toy Show was watched by an average of 1,414,000* viewers making it the most watched programme on Irish Television in 17 years, and the highest rating Toy Show in at over 18 years. This is an increase of almost 7,000 viewers on last year’s record-breaking audience of 1,407,700 viewers*.
This year’s show was inspired by the film Toy Story, and featured performances and toy demonstrations by over 130 children from all around the country.
Some of the many highlights on the night included nine-year-old Ashley Tubridy who performed “Forever Friends”, which she wrote herself, and toy tester Sean O’Connor (6) who won over the audience with his performance of Highway to Hell.
Ryan Tubridy said, “I’m genuinely taken aback by the number of viewers on Friday night. Full credit to all the children, who are the real stars of the show alongside a broken kitchenette and a dirty nappy. But particular credit must go to the production team who worked so hard to make the show such a success. I think the country needed to smile and I hope we made that happen on Friday night.”
The Late Late Toy Show is now the No.1 ranking show of the year across all channels in Ireland, followed by A National Address By An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, TD which last night attracted an average audience of 1,199,000*, followed in third place by the Eurovision Final on May 14th which attracted an average audience of 1,174,000* viewers.
The average audience for the Toy Show has grown each year since Ryan Tubridy first hosted it back in 2009. This year’s show attracted significantly more young adults compared to last year. The average rating for Adults 15-24 and 15-34 year-olds were 26% and 30% respectively which represented increases of 24% and 14% on the average ratings achieved by the show in 2010.
The show also attracted 68,000 streams on the RTÉ Player, up over 50% on the figures achieved for the Toy Show last year. And it wasn’t just viewers in Ireland who enjoyed the show. 38% of viewed streams were from users outside of Ireland, with 16% from the UK and 6% from the US.
Date: 5 December, 2010
Contact: Tara O’Brien, Senior Press Officer, RTÉ TV: 01-2082287/086 3544481
Note to Editors:
Source: TAM Ireland Ltd/Nielsen TAM,
*Live+VOSDAL, National Individuals
** Live+VOSDAL, 4-14 year olds
Source: ***Blue Metrix- November 2010