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  21 March 2014
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RTÉ launches digital only content with We need to talk about Ireland St. Patrick’s Day live broadcast
 

The concept

St. Patrick’s day signified a major departure for RTÉ with the transmission of We need to talk about Ireland, a creative celebration filmed in front of a live audience; not as a traditional broadcast on one of its main channels, but as a digital exclusive on the RTÉ Player. The Player is the most popular video on demand (VOD) service in Ireland, with over 50% more users than its nearest competitor.

The St Patrick’s night programme, aimed primarily at the overseas audience, is the first programme to be created in its own right for the service, which was originally set up as a way for domestic viewers to catch-up on RTÉ One and RTÉ Two shows. We need to talk about Ireland is a unique, fresh piece of content created for St Patrick’s Day.

250 people came together for the event; ranging from musicians, poets, filmmakers, farmers, monks, DJs, writers, activists, comedians to artists, critical thinkers, agitators, visionaries, pioneers, dreamers, gospel singers and 130 children.

The RTÉ Player app has been downloaded more than 1 million times, with almost a quarter of those downloads made by people based outside of Ireland. About 12-15 % of Player streams are from overseas viewers. The intention was to speak directly to the large Irish audience abroad. The event was streamed on the website of its international partner, the Washington Post, to maximise the global reach.

The 90-minute show explores what it means to be Irish in 2014 and was available across all versions of the Player, meaning the domestic audience were also able to access it on their television sets through UPC’s on-demand menu or the Player app on Samsung smart TVs, as well as via RTÉ.ie and iOS or Android devices.

Why does this matter to egta members?

This exclusive transmission showcases the benefits of thinking in as broad terms as possible about your audience and how to reach them. By tapping into the festival spirit RTÉ demonstrated its awareness of today’s broadcasting possibilities. It was a bold move for RTE to create this digital-only content as their flagship broadcast on St. Patrick’s Day, however, RTÉ Digital sees its mission to be where the audience is and, increasingly, that audience is online.

The RTE player is seen as an effective medium for advertising. New research carried out by B&A (Behaviour & Attitudes - Ireland’s largest independent Market Research Company) on the Irish market mentions that 40% of RTÉ Player users agree that RTÉ Player is a place for prominent brands to advertise, and 38% have a more positive opinion of products and services being advertised. Advertising impact was strong, with 41% users more likely to find out more about an advertised product.

   
Target: TV
 
 
Background info
 

Please click on the links below to access the relevant documents:

» We Need to Talk About Ireland on RTE player (please click here)

» Trailer (please click here)

 
Download in PDF
 

Please click here download the PDF version

 
Next events
 

» DigitalNext Meeting (TV)
27 March 2014, Amsterdam at the kind invitation of RTL Nederlands
Invitation
Register here


» Annual General Meeting - egta 40th anniversary
22 - 23 May 2014, Vienna at the kind invitation of ORF Enterprise
Invitation
Register here

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4 FREE passes to Advertising Week Europe on ‘first come, first serve’ basis. To see the agenda: please click here

If you are interested, please contact Katerina at [email protected]. After the four free passes are claimed, egta members continue to benefit from £100 discount on the standard pass price.