RTÉ’s 1916 output across all its different platforms attracted considerable audiences over the Easter weekend according to the broadcaster.
Over 3 million viewers (3,085,000) tuned in to RTÉ television from Friday evening’s Late Late Show to Monday night’s Centenary, reaching 75% of the viewing population. Hundreds of thousands of people flocked to the capital city on Easter Monday to experience RTÉ Reflecting the Rising in partnership with Ireland 2016, as the city was transformed by the biggest public history and cultural event ever staged in Ireland. RTÉ also provided live feeds of the Official State Commemoration to broadcasters at home and abroad ensuring that the ceremonies were made available to as wide an audience as possible.
The RTÉ 1916 programme of events culminated in the broadcast of Centenary, live from the Bord Gais Theatre on Easter Monday night. Some of Ireland’s best known singers, musicians and performers including Imelda May, Jack Lukeman, Gavin James and Colm Wilkinson came together for the special one-off cultural celebration to mark the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Rising. The programme attracted an audience of 491,000 viewers on RTÉ One representing 35% of the available audience. To date, there have been 29,700 streams (live and on demand) of Centenary on RTÉ Player- 61% of streams from domestic audiences and 39% from international audiences. Centenary will be repeated tonight on RTÉ One at 10:15pm.
Glen Killane, Project Lead, RTÉ 1916 and Managing Director of RTÉ Television said, “The weekend’s output was produced by staff across RTÉ in collaboration with the independent production sector, Ireland 2016 and arts and cultural organisations throughout the country. We are very grateful to all those who helped us make the weekend such a success. 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. RTÉ is also proud that our coverage of the official state ceremonies was carried by broadcasters at home and abroad, ensuring that they could be enjoyed by the widest possible audience and showcasing our country from the US to China”.
The Good Friday edition of The Late Late Show, featuring the stars of RTÉ’s Reflecting the Rising and new The Taste of Success mentor Roz Purcell attracted an average of 586,500 viewers and 43% share of the audience. Friday’s episode has had over 15,200 streams on RTÉ Player to date.
RTÉ One’s 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, equating to 50% of those watching television in Ireland during that time. Over 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 186,000 viewers on average watched the compilation programme of Sunday’s State Commemorations at 10.35pm on RTÉ One. Official coverage of the State commemorations by RTÉ generated nearly 100,000* streams on the RTÉ Player across the weekend with 48% of live streams on Sunday morning from International users. RTÉ 1916 TV programming has to date attracted close to 800,000 streams on RTÉ Player across domestic and international audiences.
As Ireland’s public service media organisation, RTÉ was host broadcaster providing complimentary live feeds to both international and Irish media outlets including CNN, BBC, SKY News, CCTV China, TV3 and UTV Ireland. RTÉ’s online feed was provided free to the Irish Independent, The Irish Times, The Irish Examiner, The Irish Post, TheJournal.ie and Newstalk to carry live on their own websites.
Following this historic weekend RTÉ Nationwide will be taking a behind the scenes look at the events enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people across the weekend, this Wednesday at 7.00pm on RTÉ One.
Meanwhile 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. To date there have been over 8,100 streams on RTÉ Player – 41% International (UK, US, Canada – top 3 countries) and 59% Domestic.
On Sunday night, Ryan Tubridy hosted the docu-drama ’16 Letters, filmed in the GPO, with an average of of 331,100 viewers and a 25 per cent share of the available audience. The programme has had 2,340 domestic streams on RTÉ Player to date.
An average of 360,700 viewers watched Joe Duffy’s Children of the Revolution. The documentary based on Joe’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. The programme has had 6,500 streams on RTÉ Player to date – 45% International (UK, US, Canada – top 3 countries) and 55% Domestic.
On Easter Monday, Dublin city centre, north and south was transformed by the biggest public history and cultural event ever staged in Ireland, as RTÉ Reflecting the Rising in partnership with Ireland 2016 invited people to reimagine Dublin and Ireland of 100 years ago. RTÉ Reflecting the Rising in partnership with Ireland 2016 was a free family event that took place in Dublin city from 11am – 6pm. Visitors experienced an enormous variety of talks and exhibitions, live musical and theatrical performances, special films, interactive activities and family entertainment as RTÉ and Ireland 2016 captured the sights, sounds and stories of our shared past.
RTÉ Radio 1 reflected the Rising with live broadcasts from iconic sites of the Rising on EasterMonday and a blend of commemorative, innovative and informative programmes, documentaries and dramas throughout the RTÉ’s season of centenary programming.
The History Show came live from the Four Courts, Joe Duffy broadcast live from O’Connell Street and Keelin Shanley presented a Centenary Special live from the Royal College of Surgeons. Throughout March, RTÉ’s award-winning radio documentary series, Documentary on One, aired its 1916 Season; four new documentaries that told some of the lesser-known stories of the Rising. These documentaries are available to listen to online at www.rte.ie/doconone. And its radio drama department, Drama on One, aired 100 by Donal Dineen and Jimmy Eadie: a rich soundscape featuring a recreation of the world’s first radio broadcast from the Wireless School of Telegraphy during 1916 Rising and archived interview with 1916 rebel fighter, Margaret Skinnider.
On RTÉ lyric fm on Easter Monday, Liz Nolan presented Mozart’s Requiem with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Chamber Choir Ireland conducted by John Wilson live from the Capuchin Friary on Church Street. Later that day, Eamonn Lawlor presented music from the aftermath of the Easter Rising to the present day, inspired by the poets of the Rising in The Lyric Concert: 1916 Music from Poetry.
On 2fm, Lottie Ryan brought the atmosphere in Dublin city centre to 2fm listeners nationwide with reports on the festivities across the day. During Easter week, 2fm broadcast Revolution Radio: a series of 18 shorts that brought the experiences of the ordinary women and men of 1916 crashing into the world of today. Revolution Radio was produced and directed by Róise Goan, Maisie Lee and Red Hare Media for 2fm.
Across Easter weekend on RTÉ Radio 1 Extra, available on digital radio or online, RTE rebroadcast the 1956 programme, They Remember 1916. Desmond Ryan, who was in the General Post Office during the Easter Rising, presented and compiled this series of personal memories of individuals who took part in the fighting.
Lorelei Harris, Head of Arts and Cultural Strategy RTÉ, “It was our great pleasure to bring RTÉ Reflecting the Rising, in partnership with Ireland 2016, to the streets of Dublin. The success of this event shows the extent of RTÉ’s commitment to serving the audiences’ appetite to explore the history and culture of our country.”
Meanwhile, the dedicated RTÉ 1916 website www.rte.ie/1916 has had over 651,000 page impressions for the month of March to date. Over a quarter of a million page impressions (253,150) were logged over the Easter Weekend (Sat 26th – Mon 28th March). The site hit its peak traffic yesterday with over 114,000 page impressions. 61% of weekend traffic was from a Mobile device.
