The Viewing Figues, Were People Watching?

The latest figures from the European Broadcasting Union suggest that around 204 million people watched this years Grand Final. If this is accurate it would indicate that 4 more million people than last year watched. By no means surprising the Eurovision Song Contest has gone global, but the exclusion of Russia would indicate that there would have been a lot more viewers. Below is the latest information Eurovoxx has been able to find on the results of different countries.

The Big 5

Italy: No surprise to see quite a large amount of viewing figures here. Francesco Gabbani was bookies favourite going into the contest. It was no monkey business as the latest figures suggest that 3.74 million people watched.

Spain: The country that came last, has shown its viewing figures reflect this too. Around 4 million people viewed the contest (28.4% of viewers), which were the worst figures in over ten years for audience views. These even surpassed by the 2016 figure of 4.29

Germany: Another nation that has seen successive drop in figures year on year. No surprise really after this year marked the hat rick where Germany languished at the bottom of the table. Even Lervina couldn't raise this. It is reported 7.76 people tuned in (31.5% of viewers), which is 1.75 million less compared with the 2016 figure of 9.3 million

France: For years France's figures have shown a decline in the viewing public, that changed last year when bookies favourite Amir sang. 4.9 million viewers watched in 2016, but only slightly less 4.7 watched this year. Although a drop it is still relatively a healthy figure, and it saw Alma woo the French back to Eurovision.

The United Kingdom: The viewing figures of the UK were surprisingly steady. At its peak around half 11, the figures suggest an impressive 8.37 million people watched (market share 58.7%), the average however being 6.73 million ( 36.6 % of market share). The 2016 figure was around 7 million, and peaked at 8.5 million. The viewers here still show a pretty loyal fan base for the contest.

Scandinavia

Norway: NRK have reported 1.4 million viewers tuned into see the contest (78% of market share), and a massive jump of 890,000 from last year. Qualifying for the final this year, wetted the viewing publics appetite for the contest.

Sweden: The Scandinavian powerhouse for the competition has seen disappointing figures this year. Sweden just "Can't Go On" increasing their viewing figures year by year. 2.9 million people watched this year, which were the lowest figures since 2010. Compared to the 3.7 million that saw them host the previous year. Quite a big drop.

Finland: Bookie and fan favourites Norma John failed to qualify to the final. This reflected in their viewing figures where only 525,000 tuned in to see the final. Compared to the 675,000 that watched in 2016. This is quite a big drop.

Iceland and Denmark have yet to give their viewing figures.

Portugal: Winning the contest helped Portugal achieve some pretty high figures. During the voting the figure peaked at 2.5 million, and the average was 1.4 million. As Portugal did not participate last year, these figures cannot be compared.

Hungary: Hungary entered Eurovision's first ever Roma gypsy into the competition. This may have helped Hungary achieve its highest viewing figures in recent years. 798, 914 viewers tuned into see Joci Papai represent them.

Cyprus: Cyprus is another country that bucked the trend to see an increase in viewers. Half of Cyprus potential viewers tuned in, with 136,170 people watching (57% of the market share).

Greece: The Greek figure for 2016 was fairly low. That is not surprising considering it was the first year they had not qualified. 2017 saw Demmy entice them back and figures rose to an impressive 5.5 million.

Slovenia: This is another country not to qualify, however it did not deter the viewing public. 8.8 % of the market share meant 166,600 viewers saw the final on the Saturday, which was higher than their semi final.

Netherlands: The Dutch has seen some what of a renaissance of artists qualify for the final lately. That drought has led to a flood of viewers return to the competition. It is reported that 4,067,000 Dutch viewers tuned in to see the tuneful OG3NE perform. A slight decrease on the 4.2 million viewers last year, however, still respectable and high figures.

Romania: The figure for Romania was 807,000 which is impressive considering they were disqualified last year. There appears to have been no bad feelings as they rapped, and yodelled their way to the Grand Final.

Israel: Despite the Israeli channel bidding the contest a fond farewell on the show, and was the last programme that IBA broadcast, IMRI stayed fairly consistent with last years figures. He peaked at 19.3% of the market share which saw it being the most watched programme that day.

Belgium: Another country that has had quite a successful results in previous years, saw Blanche do the same again this year. An average of 1.2 million, peaking at 1.6 million saw Blanche give Belgian TV its highest figures since 2000, and a 100,000 more viewers than last year.

Croatia: Croatia's figures were slightly higher than last years. No surprising as they qualified this year. Almost half of Croatia's market share watched the contest.

Poland: The second year on the trot Poland has qualified for the contest, saw it be the most watched programme with an average of 3.1 million viewers tuning in.

Switzerland: Although, they failed to qualify this year a reasonably high figure of 272,000 tuned in which was a market share of 24.2%

Austria: Nathan Trent attracted around one million viewers at the peak of the contest, which is not bad, however nearly half a million less people tuned in. Figures were down 400,000

Estonia: Another year that Estonia failed to qualify for the final, saw their over all figure be an unimpressive 135,000 tune in, which is reported to be their lowest ever figure for the contest.

Australia: Finally, Europe's new kid on the block stayed consistent with over half a million Aussies tune in. Although a small figure, it is still quite impressive considering the show starts on a different day there.

That's it folks, when more viewing figures are released Eurovoxx will try and publish them.

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