Sky News Soars on Saorview
Since the arrival of Sky News to Saorview in November the 24 hour UK news services has become the 5th most watch TV channel, growing its audience from 0.87% in November 2021 to 3.6% in March 2021. The channel was added to the Free-To-Air terrestrial service in late November 2021. Sky channels now command nearly 10% of the TV viewing audience, while Virgin Media TV had a 20% share across its channels, with RTÉ having a 29% share. The most viewed programme was Ireland V England on March 12th with 778,500 viewers, while Ireland V Scotland on VMTV one had 683,600 viewers in second place.
TG4 had an audience share of 2%.
RTÉ ONE remained on 20% in March from February, up 4% from March last year.
RTÉ2 saw its share decrease by 4% from last month, achieving 6% share, it was up by 11% from March 2021.
RTÉ ONE +1 and RTÉjr had 1.20% and 0.30% respectively. RTÉ2 +1 had 0.20% in March.
Virgin Media one's audience share was 12% in March, a decrease of 5% from February, but a drop of 11% year on year.
Virgin Media TWO has a 3% share, down 7% from last month and down 21% from March 2021.
Meanwhile, Virgin Media THREE was at 2%, up 10% from February and down 32% from March 2021. Virgin Media one +1 had an audience share of 0.29%.
Virgin Media Sport had 0.11%, it was replace in April by Virgin Media MORE.
English channels had 52% share of the audience in March 2022. BBC remained the most watch channel with a 4.18%, with Sky News coming a close second with 3.57%.
| Channel | March 2022 | Monthly Change | Yearly Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTÉ ONE | 20.36% | 0% | 4% |
| RTÉ ONE +1 | 1.20% | 15% | 5% |
| RTÉjr | 0.30% | 43% | -29% |
| RTÉ2 | 5.76% | -4% | 11% |
| RTÉ2 +1 | 0.20% | -29% | -13% |
| RTÉ Total | 27.82% | 0% | 4% |
| VMT one | 12.25% | -5% | -11% |
| VMT one +1 | 0.29% | 21% | 4% |
| VMT TWO | 3.33% | -7% | -15% |
| VMT THREE | 2.08% | 0% | -32% |
| VMT SPORT | 0.11% | 10% | 22% |
| VMT Total | 18.06% | -4% | -15% |
| TG4 | 2.06% | -5% | 8% |
| Total | 47.94% | % | -4% |
| Other | 52.06% | 2% | 4% |
| Company | March | Q1 2022 | Q1 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| RTÉ | 27.82% | 27.36% | 26.31% |
| Virgin Media TV | 18.06% | 18.25% | 19.73% |
| Sky | 9.68% | 8.44% | 6.75% |
| BBC | 5.41% | 5.72% | 5.92% |
| Channel 4 | 3.67% | 3.78% | 4.21% |
| Viacom | 3.35% | 2.99% | 3.30% |
| Discovery | 2.19% | 2.26% | 1.79% |
| TG4 | 2.06% | 2.13% | 1.72% |
| UKTV | 2.01% | 2.13% | 2.50% |
| Other | 25.75% | 27.53% | 27.50% |
Full list of channels by broadcaster
BBC = BBC1 and BBC2
Channel 4 = Channel 4, Channel 4 +1, More4, E4, E4 +1 and Film4
Viacom = Comedy Central, Comedy Central Extra, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr, Nicktoons, Nick Jr Too, CBS Reality, CBS Justice and CBS Drama
Sky = E!, Sky Arts, Sky Nature, Sky Comedy, Sky Showcase, Sky Max, Sky Replay, Sky News, Sky Sport Main Event, Sky Sports Football, Sky Sports Golf, Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports News, Sky Witness, Sky Atlantic, Sky Documentry, Pick and Challenge
Discovery = HGTV, Quest Red, DMAX, TLC, Discovery, Discovery ID, Really and Food Network
UKTV = Dave, Gold, Alibi, W and Drama
Others = RTÉ News and any other channels not mentioned above.