Christmas, children, crime and Croatia dominated the most-watched programmes of 2012, which saw December’s Late Late Toy Show take the top spot.
RTÉ’s long-running annual mix of reindeer jumpers, toys and singing children had an average audience of 1,453,0000. The Late Late Show also makes an appearance in fifth place for June’s 50th anniversary programme which saw Gay Byrne and Pat Kenny make a return.
The national broadcaster dominated the TAM/Nielson list of last year's most watched shows with 19 out of 20 of the top programmes, according to figures released today.
The second highest viewer figures were for Ireland's opening Euro 2012 fixtures against Croatia, which had an audience of 1,236,000.
The post-turkey viewing across the State seems to have been Brendan O'Carroll's Bafta-winning comedy Mrs Brown's Boys Christmas special, which was in third place with 1,068,000 viewers.
The finale to the RTÉ's crime drama Love/Hate, which dominated the Ifta nominations earlier this week, came fourth. The December episode - which saw Darren, one of the main characters, executed - attracted 1,236,000 viewers.
Other drama's in the top 20 were Fair City (19th place) and the Raw finale (15th place). The only non-Irish programme in the top-20 was long-running soap Coronation Street broadcast on TV3 (14th place).
Staple annual audience winning programmes in the top 20 included the Eurovision Song Contest final from Azerbaijan, which saw pop duo Jedward perform Waterline (10th place), and the Rose of Tralee final won by Luxembourg Rose Nicola McEvoy (16th place).
Sport made up five of the top 20 programmes. Katie Taylor's gold-medal winning fight at the London Olympics had 754,0000 viewers for 11th place. The Mayo vs Donegal All Ireland Football final was in sixth place, Kilkenny vs Galway All Ireland Hurling Final was the 8th most watched broadcast and the Irelands vs Wales Six Nations Rugby game was in 20th place.
Two editions of RTÉ News featured in the top 20 programmes. In ninth place was the RTÉ Nine O'Clock news on February 12th - which led with the death of Whitney Houston. Six One News on January 3rd, which led with the story of powerful storms causing widespread damage, came 17th.
RTÉ reality programmes took three of the top 20 places, with weight-loss series Operation Transformation at 18th place, singing contest The Voice and the Voice Results shows in 12th and 13th places.
The TAM /Nielson ratings are based on programmes broadcast last year on any television channel available in Ireland. The best-performing episodes in each of the top shows are included in the list.
Managing director RTÉ Television Glen Killane said: "We are delighted to see that the vast majority of Irish viewers continue to choose RTÉ Television. These figures demonstrate clearly that our investment in delivering high quality programming for Irish audiences is paying off".
Top 20 most watched programmes of 2012 and viewer numbers:
1 The Late Late Toy Show 1,452,800
2 Euro 2012 (Republic Of Ireland vs. Croatia) 1,235,700
3 Mrs Brown's Boys - Christmas Special 1,068,100
4 Love/Hate 1,033,900
5 The Late Late Show 1,027,900
6 The Sunday Game Live: All Ireland Senior Football Final (Mayo vs Donegal) 974,500
7 Mrs Brown's Boys 909,000
8 The Sunday Game Live: All Ireland Senior Hurling Final (Kilkenny vs Galway) 900,800
9 RTE News: Nine O'Clock 778,300
10 The Eurovision Song Contest 771,500
11 London 2012 Olympics 753,800
12 The Voice Of Ireland 724,900
13 The Voice of Ireland - Results 717,600
14 Coronation Street 715,400
15 Raw 704,000
16 The Rose Of Tralee 694,800
17 RTE News: Six One 674,900
18 Operation Transformation 673,200
19 Fair City 648,300
20 RBS 6 Nations Rugby (Ireland vs Wales) 647,800
