ALMOST 500,000 PEOPLE tuned in to watch Centenary last night – the centrepiece of RTÉ’s Easter Rising commemoration coverage.
Some 491,000 viewers watched the programme, with a further 29,700 live and on-demand streams on the RTÉ Player – 61% of the streams were from domestic audiences and 39% from international audiences.
The show, which was broadcast live from the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, took 600 people, 21 choirs, 18 dancers, 10 actors, six aerial dancers, the RTÉ concert orchestra and 80 crew members to put together.
Other 1916-related content also did well for the broadcaster.
Its live coverage of the official state commemoration ceremonies and parade at the GPO on Easter Sunday was watched by an average of 336,900 viewers, or 50% of those watching television in Ireland during that time.
More than 1.1 million people tuned in to the live transmission at some point during the five-hour broadcast which was presented by Bryan Dobson, Eileen Dunne and Aine Lawlor, Cathal Mac Coille, John Bowman and Mary Kennedy.
In addition, an average of 186,000 viewers watched the compilation programme of Sunday’s state commemorations.
Coverage of these commemorations generated mover 96,500 streams on the RTÉ Player across the weekend, with 48% of live streams on Sunday morning from international users. RTÉ’s 1916 TV programming has to date attracted close to 800,000 streams on RTÉ Player across domestic and international audiences.
The Good Friday edition of The Late Late Show, which featured stars of RTÉ’s Reflecting the Rising, attracted an average of 586,500 viewers.
Children of the Revolution
Glen Killane, managing director of RTÉ Television, said:
I would like to thank the public for engaging with us in such huge numbers over this Easter weekend, where we felt united in a huge sense of pride in our country, our rich culture and unique heritage.
An average of 246,800 viewers tuned in to watch more than 1,000 singers accompanied by the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra and conductor David Brophy in a live open air concert from Collins Barracks for A Nation’s Voice.
On Sunday night, Ryan Tubridy hosted the docu-drama ’16 Letters, filmed in the GPO, with an average of of 331,100 viewers.
An average of 360,700 viewers watched Joe Duffy’s Children of the Revolution. The documentary based on Duffy’s best-selling book told the story of the 1916 Easter Rising as seen from the perspective of the 40 children who lost their lives during the conflict.
Centenary will be repeated tonight on RTÉ One at 10:15pm, an earlier time than originally planned.
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