RTE has hailed this year’s Late Late Toy Show “a roaring success” after it attracted more than 1.8 million viewers across 150 countries and raised more than €6.6m for charities.
Average TV viewing for The Lion King themed show, broadcast last Friday night, has now topped 1.8 million, taking catch-up viewing on Saturday and Sunday into account.
Some 1.56 million viewers watched the show on RTÉ One on Friday night, representing 81 per cent of the available audience and marking a year-on-year increase on last year's audience of 1.55 million. An additional 292,000 watched the programme on catch up TV, including RTÉ One+1 and the Saturday repeat showing.
This makes it one of the highest rating TV programmes, on a single channel in Ireland, on record.
The show's host Ryan Tubridy said: "Friday night was an absolute joy to present, and it felt like it was about six or seven minutes long, it just went by so fast as such were the joy that the children brought to everyone in Ireland."
“We were a country that needed one big magical hug and thanks to the kids all around the country, we got it. I am flabbergasted by the audience share and I am bowled over by the donations made to The Toy Show Appeal. “
“I think that every child matters and for one night in a dark year, the sun came out and kindness won and the future looking at those kids is very, very bright. So here is the start of a hopeful Happy Christmas for everyone in Ireland, especially the children whose future is made a little brighter thanks to the kindness of their fellow citizens.”
In a statement, RTE said: “After a year where children were restricted in play and socialising with their friends, the Hakuna Matata ‘no worries’ philosophy of the show was central to the core message in allowing children to roam wild both at home and in studio.”
“Through the generosity and goodwill of the Irish people, The Toy Show Appeal in its second year raised €6.6 million, marking a total of €13 million of much-needed funds over the course of its two years”
The €6,6m includes a donation of €1.1m from Revolut banking app co-founder Vlad Yatsenko. Following technical difficulties with the app on Friday night, Mr Yatsenko announced a €100,000 donation to the appeal and also pledged to match any further donations made over the weekend via the RevolutApp up to €1m.
Ed Sheeran and the Toy Show Choir performance was the most-watched clip from the show. DJ Callum and his hype-man Jackson, fashionista Abigale and Olympic gold medallist Kellie Harrington's knock-out surprise were also massive hits.
The Late Late Toy Show with Irish Sign Language (ISL) was available live on Friday night on RTÉ Player and RTÉ News and has had over 18,000 streams to date with the ISL
Across the week, the #LateLateToyShow content also garnered 4.6 million views on RTÉ’s social accounts across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok.
On Toy Show night, at one point the top 10 trends in Ireland were #LateLateToyShow names of the Toy Show children who appeared on the show that night.
