RTÉ audience doubles as Siskin's Irish 2,000 Guineas win peaks at 129,000

Satisfying rather than spectacular is how RTÉ head of sport Declan McBennett has described audience figures for the channel's coverage of the Guineas meeting at the Curragh last weekend, with double the amount of people tuning in to see Siskin's Irish 2,000 Guineas win compared to last year's race.

The peak audience for the Tattersalls Irish 2,000 Guineas on Friday was 129,000 at 6.44pm, just as Siskin was passing the line in the big race. That was up from 69,000 for the same race in 2019, albeit when it was held on a Saturday.

The average audience on Friday evening was 83,000, almost double that of last year. The average audience for the Irish 2,000 from 2015 to 2019 on the channel was 42,000.

Peaceful's victory in the Irish 1,000 Guineas on Saturday evening was watched by 150,000 viewers; that peak audience compared favourably to the average peak for the previous five years of 96,000. The average audience across Saturday's two-hour show was 97,000. The previous five years' average was 74,000, when the race was held on a Sunday.

"You would have to be satisfied overall," said McBennett. "The key thing for us was to have live sport back. With the absence of crowds, television is playing an even more important role than it was before. I'm very pleased.

"There was great drama on Friday night and the story that Siskin brought added to the excitement. I thought the team on course did extremely well. I wouldn't call it a new team, but it is very much a changed team with Hugh [Cahill], Ruby [Walsh] and Jane [Mangan], and they did great."

While McBennett was pleased with the viewing figures for the first two Classics of the year in Ireland, he did admit that Flat racing finds it hard to compete with jumping action.

"Traditionally the Flat has always been outdone by the jumps on RTÉ," he said. "The likes of the festivals at Galway, Punchestown and Fairyhouse will always attract bigger audiences than Flat racing. That's just the way it is in Ireland."

With horseracing the first competitive sport to resume in Ireland, RTÉ has been quick out of the blocks in ensuring live coverage and they have a new one-hour programme every Friday, Saturday and Sunday evening until mid-July.

The first of those takes place this Friday with live action from Gowran Park.

Read more:

A first Classic for Lyons and Keane as Siskin oozes class in Irish 2,000 Guineas

From Thurles to Classic fame: it's easy for Peaceful in Irish 1,000 Guineas

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