Armchair fans face Champions League choice

[tiktok]

I don't know much about ratings, but wouldn't a big national team game normally pull in around 700,000+?
To be entirely frank, I'm very disappointed so many people watched ManU.

Jesus, every silver lining has a cloud inside it.

It wasn't a national team game, it had a Man Utd game as competition on TV3and it's already been mentioned in other threads that it was the game of choice in most pubs. 317,000 people tuned in, 24,000 attended,

IMO that's huge.

[Sheridan]

Jesus, every silver lining has a cloud inside it.

It wasn't a national team game, it had a Man Utd game as competition on TV3and it's already been mentioned in other threads that it was the game of choice in most pubs. 317,000 people tuned in, 24,000 attended,

IMO that's huge.

Fair enough, I stand corrected. I'm the last person in the world who wants to detract from the significance of this. Looking through the Evening Herald last night, with four pages about Shels at the front, and four more at the back, in-depth profiles of every player, interviews with Jason Byrne's wife...felt like a parallel universe.

IIRC, though, televised domestic football has consistently outperformed foreign football in the ratings stakes when given the chance, which just makes RTE and TV3's apathy towards the eL seem even more baffling.

[tiktok]

IIRC, though, televised domestic football has consistently outperformed foreign football in the ratings stakes when given the chance, which just makes RTE and TV3's apathy towards the eL seem even more baffling.

Spot on, can the cost of sending an OB unit really not cover the advertising revenue that could be generated from a regular 250,000+ audience.

[WeAreRovers]

IIRC, though, televised domestic football has consistently outperformed foreign football in the ratings stakes when given the chance, which just makes RTE and TV3's apathy towards the eL seem even more baffling.

In fairness, the FAI and the League are dire at marketing their "product" unlike the GAA and IRFU. Broadcasters look at audience share more than raw numbers (25% last night BTW, which is astonishing) and selling advertising is the be all and end all.

If the FAI had their shít together and had any balls they would take the eircom League rights off TV3 after last night. Showing a foreign team in adirect competition with our own Champions is not on and diminishes Shels achievements. I'm glad they got a kicking in the ratings.

And while I'm at it Eircom League Weekly does more harm than good for football in this country.

KOH

[brendy_éire]

And while I'm at it Eircom League Weekly does more harm than good for football in this country.

How so? .

[WeAreRovers]

How so? .

Have you ever watched it? It's beyond awful and reinforces the casual observer's prejudices re Irish football. In other words it makes our League look crap and that does more harm than good.

Roll on Setanta's deal with the FAI.

KOH

[pete]

Have you ever watched it? It's beyond awful and reinforces the casual observer's prejudices re Irish football. In other words it makes our League look crap and that does more harm than good.

Its pretty good for community tv though

[WeAreRovers]

Its pretty good for community tv though

Nail on head!

KOH

[eoinh]

Lads - 317,000 for Shels v Depor. Fantastic figures.

KOH

Excellent. For the away leg you would imagine the viewing figures to be even higher.

Two reasons - the ties involving english clubs are effectively over and the away leg for shels is practically a knock out cup tie game.

[ShelsTim]

It was a once-off(at least until next year) against the Champions League semi finalists, it doesn't mean that the average joe will want to watch an eL game every week or two weeks. Showing the big, important games gets viewers and that's what the companies do. TV3 now are branching out a bit and showing some less important games, eg. Pats-Cork, Derry-Waterford. In my view, they should go for the bigger games all the time as they have the rights.

Stop moaning, EL Weekly is the best TV3 can do, there won't and shouldn't be any extra live games as a direct result of this European run.

[tiktok]

Pats-Cork, Derry-Waterford.

you must be a WUM.

because of the interest the Dolan move would have raised, City-v-Pats on that day was the big game, regardless of whether it ended up being dour or not.

If Derry had lost they could have gone down straight instead of to the play-offs, the prospect of Derry being relegated made that a big game too.

I'm not arguing they did well for us last season, but on the weekends they chose to show games I thought they picked well.

In my view, they should go for the bigger games all the time as they have the rights..

They're contracted to show two games a year, but no-one actually has the 'rights' to EL coverage. ERoll on Setanta.

[CuanaD]

I actually think that TV3's eL weekly is a good show & shows the league in a good light - I just want lots more coverage. Therefore, roll on Setanta.

[liamon]

... there won't and shouldn't be any extra live games as a direct result of this European run.

Debateable. But surely these viewing figures call into question the decision by RTE/TV3 not to cover CCFC's european games this year. Without any major football on tv as competition, these would surely have pulled in decent viewing figures.
I know Nantes/NEC/Malmo are not as attractive as Deportivo to the average bar stool "fan", but many of them would still have tuned in.

Next year, I shall expect better!

[pete]

Live League game should be cherry picked for th biggest games. I'm all for showing non dublin teams but no idea what possessed TV3 to show Waterford v Derry last year as was non event & useless crowd. Top the table teams should be rewarded with more tv coverage!

[brendy_éire]

I'm all for showing non dublin teams but no idea what possessed TV3 to show Waterford v Derry last year as was non event & useless crowd. Top the table teams should be rewarded with more tv coverage!

Because it decided which team was to be relegated last season. Makes sense to show.