New figures show Australia had fifth highest Eurovision viewer growth

Updated Eurovision figures from its various broadcasters show Australia had the fifth highest growth in viewing figures.

According to organiser European Broadcasting Union, the two semi-finals and May 18 grand final drew 182 million viewers across 40 markets over the four-hour show.

Madonna’s controversial appearance certainly had non-Eurovision fans also tuning in.

The figure consolidated Eurovision as the world’s most-viewed live music event.

This was, however, a decline from the 186 million in 2018 and 204 million in 2016 but not as low as 170 million in 2013.

Australia’s growth rate is put at 54.9%, after the number of viewers on SBS rose to 412,000 from 266,000 in 2018.

The rise is attributed to the publicity surrounding the inaugural Australia Decides and of the choice of the unique Kate Miller-Heidke as an entrant.

The top growth came from:

Switzerland: 182.1% to 660,000 from 234,000, after making it to the grand final for the first time in five years.

Iceland: 80% to 171,000 from 95,000 after also making it to the grand final for the first time in five years.

Hungary: 64.1% to 403,559 from 145,000.

Ireland: 58.7% to 690,000 from 284,700.

This year’s host country Israel was only up by 22.6%, to 1.3 million from 1.06 million. It amounted to 63.2% of the TV audience, and its highest since it last hosted in 1999.

The Netherlands, whose entrant won, grew 45.9% from 3 million to 4.4 million, its biggest audience 2014 and accounting for 73.4% of TV viewing in the country.

Online, Eurovision grabbed 40 million unique viewers on YouTube from 225 territories, during the week of the event.

72% watching it live on YouTube was under 35.

There were also 5 million engagement actions on the Eurovision Song Contest official social media accounts with 70% of those on Instagram.

Eurovision is drawing an increasingly younger audience.

On average, 45.3% of 15 to 24-year-olds watching TV in 40 markets switched to the grand final – 2% points higher than in 2018.

As reported in TMN, Swedish production company Brain Academy has signed an exclusive licensing deal with the EBU to take the format to the US in 2021.