RTÉ plans to add live streaming capabilities to the smart TV versions of the RTÉ Player next year, with “unprecedented” streaming of World Cup matches, driven by smartphone users, putting it on track to reach eight million streams for the tournament.
Aoife Byrne, head of RTÉ Player, said Qatar 2022 streams have exceeded 7.5 million with two games to go, a figure that already surpasses both the 5.8 million streams for Russia 2018 and the 2.5 million garnered by Euro 2020.
Early kick-offs – at times when many football fans are at work or school – have helped spur the bumper numbers, with 2.2 million of RTÉ's World Cup streams occurring during the group stage, while Ms Byrne said there was also “anecdotal evidence” of people streaming match content on their phones while out socialising at Christmas events.
The most-streamed game to date is Croatia v Brazil, a 3pm kick-off, which gained 341,000 streams. This is followed by Morocco v Spain, another 3pm fixture, with 291,000. The 7pm kick-off for Netherlands v Argentina is in third place with 287,000 streams. All three matches went to penalties.
Saudi Arabia’s surprise victory against Argentina, a 10am group stage match, is in fourth with 254,000 streams, with Japan v Croatia at 3pm collecting 233,000 streams. This match also ended with penalties.
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“It is unprecedented by some way for us. When we were forecasting this, we didn’t think we would get half of this,” said Ms Byrne.
The figures show that RTÉ has improved its ability to deliver live Player streaming, she said: “This is where we put our investment and our focus.”
RTÉ now intends to introduce live streaming functionality to the versions of the RTÉ Player on most smart TVs “over the next year”. At present, these TV apps only facilitate catch-up viewing and do not have the same functionality as the full RTÉ Player service accessible on the internet or via mobile apps.
“It’s a big priority for us,” Ms Byrne said.
Some 126,000 homes in the State, or 7 per cent of the total “TV homes”, are “web TV-only”. This means they can view broadcast content online through apps on a smart television or another connected device, but they don’t have a pay-TV service or reception via digital terrestrial television (Saorview).
Ms Byrne said this group would prefer to live-stream matches on as big a screen as possible and that RTÉ would work at “creating a bit of parity around this”. At the moment, RTÉ content can be live-streamed on a TV screen only through Apple TV or the recently launched Sky Glass.
Some 1.5 million unique users have streamed World Cup content, most of it live, with the average time per stream arriving at 37 minutes.
RTÉ2 audiences
The most-watched Qatar 2022 match on RTÉ2 to date, meanwhile, is Argentina’s semi-final victory over Croatia on Tuesday night, which had an average audience of 784,000.
England v France is in second place with a 760,000 average audience last Saturday night, although this match had a higher peak audience than Argentina v Croatia. The third biggest match on RTÉ2 was the other semi-final, France v Morocco, which had a 631,000 viewing average.
Declan McBennett, RTÉ group head of sport, said the cold weather had “worked for us as well, in truth”, with RTÉ2 achieving average audiences of more than 500,000 for five games and peak audiences of more than 500,000 for 10 games.
Kick-offs at 7pm rather than 8pm meant children could watch full games before “rows about bedtime” began, Mr McBennett said, while the “superstar” factor, with Argentina’s Lionel Messi and France’s Kylian Mbappé both reaching the final, has also boosted the appeal of the tournament for young viewers.
Sunday’s final starring “the guy who’s bowing out” and “the young pretender” has some work to do, however, to beat RTÉ's biggest audience during the Russia 2018 tournament: a 924,000 viewership for England’s semi-final defeat to Croatia.
