Cork connections help ‘Traitors’ draw 557,000 faithful viewers per show

With RTÉ insiders variously likening The Traitors Ireland to “12 All-Ireland finals” and “12 Toy Shows”, the reality television show has been a smash hit for the State broadcaster.

Each episode drew an average audience of 557,000 on the day of broadcast, and a 50% share of the viewing audience.

The series finale pulled in 732,000 viewers, or a 57% share.

Among younger audiences, the series saw an average 70% share of 18–44-year-olds.

Across broadcast and streaming, The Traitors Ireland and its companion show, The Traitors Ireland Uncloaked, have together reached more than 2.1m people on television to date, with the series generating four million streams on RTÉ Player.

Leeside

There was no shortage of Cork connections for Leeside viewers, with presenter Siobhan McSweeney being a local, as are ‘faithfuls’ Christine Duff, from Ballincollig, and John Malone, while ‘turncoat’ Andrew Moloney lives here, even if his father, Paudie, is from Kilmallock.

We can also claim series winner Vanessa Ogbonna as among our own, seeing as she graduated from University College Cork.

Gráinne McAleer, RTÉ commissioning editor for factual and documentary series, said she was particularly delighted with the number of 15- to 34-year-olds who had watched the show.

“The series was brilliantly produced by Kite Entertainment and the collaboration between Kite and RTÉ really paid off, reminding viewers that our remit is to entertain as well as inform,” she said.

“The Traitors Ireland would have been nothing without our brilliant players, who threw themselves completely in to the game and distracted and entertained the country for the month of September.

“There was someone for everyone in the cast and we’re really proud of the fact that the audience responded wholeheartedly to that.”