Eurovision Song Contest attracts 183m viewers
June 1, 2021
The return of the Eurovision Song Contest, following its cancellation in 2020, was seen by 183 million viewers across 36 markets.
The Grand Final of the 65th Contest achieved, on average, a 4 percentage point higher TV audience share than the last Contest in 2019 of 40.5 per cent – more than double the average prime-time viewing share for the same group of channels (19.4 per cent).
The Contest was a massive hit with young audiences. The viewing share of the Grand Final among 15-24 year-olds was up 7 percentage points on 2019 at 52.8 per cent, remaining four times higher than the broadcast channels average (14.5 per cent).
Online, during the week of the Contest, 50.6 million unique viewers across 234 countries watched on the official YouTube channel, up 28 per cent on 2019. 18-34 year-olds made up 71 per cent of those who viewed live content.
The same week the Contest’s official social media accounts generated 14 million engagement actions on posts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. The new TikTok channel, launched 100 days before the Grand Final, also generated 4.3 million engagement actions. Content on the official Facebook page reached 21 million people with a further 8 million people reached on Instagram where posts were seen 170 million times. Nearly 5 million tweets about the Contest were sent on the night of the Grand Final with almost 80 million total views for videos related to Eurovision during the week of the event.
In the winning country, Italy, the Eurovision Song Contest delivered its largest audience for Rai since they re-joined the competition after a 13-year absence in 2011. An average of 4.3 million viewers watched the Grand Final, accounting for 24.4 per cent of TV viewing in the country.
Host country the Netherlands saw its biggest audience for the Grand Final on record, up +21 per cent on 2019. 5.4 million viewers watched on NPO, who staged the event with NOS and AVROTROS. The huge audience made up 78.5 per cent of TV viewing in the Netherlands.
France, who came second in the Contest for the first time since 1991, delivered its best audience of the past decade, with 5.5 million viewers, up 15 per cent on 2019.
7.4 million viewers watched in the United Kingdom – the highest number since 2014 and up 6 per cent on 2019.
Germany continues to deliver the largest audience of all markets for the 11th consecutive year with 7.8 million viewers, up 3 per cent on 2019.
Fourth placed Iceland once again had the largest viewing share of any market at 99.9 per cent.
Finland made it to the Grand Final after a year’s absence in 2019 and delivered its best audience on record with 1.4 million viewers, accounting for 81.4 per cent of TV viewing in Finland, almost three times the audience delivered in 2019.
“We’re thrilled to see that audiences welcomed back the Eurovision Song Contest in such huge numbers and very proud to have brought millions together at a time when so many are still apart,” declared Martin Osterdahl, who oversaw his first Eurovision Song Contest as Executive Supervisor.
“The overwhelmingly positive response to this year’s incredible shows from NPO, NOS and AVROTROS, and the huge success of Måneskin and so many of this year’s songs demonstrates that, even in its 65th year, the Eurovision Song Contest’s impact is bigger than ever.”
The Grand Final of the 65th Eurovision Song Contest was also broadcast by 11 EBU Radio organisations.