Top 50 TV Programmes 2023

TAM Ireland/Nielsen Media released the viewing figures for 2023 this week and it proves the strength and resilience of the relationship between the Irish viewing public and TV

TV excels as a shared experience. Those moments that capture the nation’s imagination and have everybody talking. The top 50 Programmes (1) really reflect these moments of magic that only TV can deliver.

The Late Late Toy Show under its new presenter Patrick Kielty hit the number one spot again this year out performing all other TV shows in 2023.

The Rugby World Cup kept the nation enthralled with almost 1.4 million viewing the Ire v NZ heartbreak and of course the All Ireland Finals formed part of that top 10.

Overall sport did exceptionally well this year claiming over 60% of the Top 50 programmes and it was great to see the Women’s World Cup coverage make an appearance with over ½ a million people cheering on the girls in green.

Aside from sport, news, current affairs and entertainment featured heavily with Room to Improve, I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here, Tommy Tiernan and Ireland’s Fittest Family all performing very well. The nation were gripped with the drama of Kin unfolding in the latest series.

Yet again this year we see Irish, home produced programmes were the backbone of top viewing experiences making up 49 of the top 50 Programmes. Irish TV broadcasters provide this very desirable content at scale to mass audiences and this is why TV continues to deliver for audiences and advertisers alike.

The average Irish adult in a TV home watches Broadcaster TV on a TV set for 2 hrs 32 mins per day that’s over 76 hours a month or 28% of our leisure time spent with our favourite form of entertainment!(2)

84% of this daily viewing is consumed live (i.e. at the time the programme is broadcast) and 16% is viewed as catch-up up 1% since last year.

For the advertisers TV delivered over 39 billion impacts (3). Housekeepers with kids viewed for 1hr 41 mins daily. Women spent slight more time viewing daily than men – 2 hrs 11 mins and 2 hrs 3 min respectively.

Taking into account all video viewing across all devices, viewing to broadcaster content is by far the most popular viewing activity. Total video viewing data for 2023 shows that people spend 62% of their daily viewing with broadcaster content, 10% with streaming services such as Netflix etc. and 18% with video sharing platforms such as YouTube and TikTok etc. (4)
It is impressive to see how broadcaster content towers over the global streamers and other video platforms, showing great resilience and strength in an increasingly competitive market.

Source:
1TAM Ireland/Nielsen Media: Top Programmes based on Individuals 4+, All Subscribing Channels,  Averaging Option: Any Day, Any Time, Best Episode, Minimum  Duration 10 Minutes. Please note: This list uses best episode of a series.
2 Source: TAM Ireland / Nielsen Media, Adults 15+, Total TV, Avg. mins per person, consolidated, all day, 2023
3 Source: TAM Ireland/Nielsen Media, Individuals total commercial impacts, consolidated, all day 2023
4 Source: TAM Ireland/Nielsen Media Total Video Panel  (Consolidated 7 day linear & Streaming)– Jan – Dec 2023