To some it may have seemed like vanity or a bid for TV fame, but the business experts who signed up to be dragons in RTÉ show Dragons' Den could be laughing all the way to the bank.

The Sunday Tribune has learned that the five dragons are getting as many business approaches off screen as they are on the small screen since the show began airing on RTÉ last month.

It was reported the dragons invested a total of €750,000 in new business ventures which featured in the Dragons' Den series, and now it seems other significant investments are being made off screen.

A spokesman for company Screentime ShinAwil told the Sunday Tribune that, "Dragons' Den has certainly been a huge opener for some of them. They've had a range of investment opportunities coming their way and I'm sure they're glad they got involved."

Some of the off-screen approaches have come from business ventures turned down for the RTÉ series but only on the grounds that they wouldn't work on TV.

"That could be an online concept which wasn't televisual. First and foremost Dragons' Den is a TV show and all the business ideas we featured in the show had to work in that format.

"But there were many other concepts we came across which would have been turned into successful businesses but which were only rejected because they didn't work on TV," the spokesman added

On top of that, many other budding entrepreneurs have been prompted to approach the dragons after seeing them on the RTÉ show.

Dragon and Black Tie owner Niall O'Farrell confirmed that he is receiving off-screen approaches for investment.

"I've been quietly blessed on that front. There are different reasons why some of these people won't go on Dragons' Den. Some of their business models aren't ready to go on screen or they don't want to do TV.

"I met one guy at a party who told me he was just an inventor with no business skills but had a few ideas.

"One of his ideas I couldn't believe how it wasn't in daily use. I'm working with him. Another guy contacted me with a fantastic recession product. All these people are looking at how you can make money out of a recession," O'Farrell added.

An added bonus for the business experts is that if they can investigate these business opportunities outside of the TV show without the distraction of other dragons making rivals offers of investment.

Panellists appearing on BBC's Dragons' Den have similarly benefited from their TV profile.

Scottish businessman Duncan Bannatyne took the decision to set up a whole investment portfolio company to deal with the viable and potentially very profitable business ideas he was contacted about after appearing in Dragons' Den.

Irish dragons Gavin Duffy, property owner and media consultant; Insomnia Coffee CEO Bobby Kerr; Black Tie owner Niall O'Farrell; Smarthomes boss Seán Gallagher and former needahotel.com owner Sarah Newman could follow suit.

Dragons' Den has also proved to be a bonus for RTÉ1 with an average audience of 400,000 watching the show, pushing the station's Thursday night audience share up to 31% from its previous share of 25%.