Controversial ESC attracts strong interest in 2024
Published: Thursday, May 23rd 2024, 18:20
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A politically charged and chaotic Eurovision Song Contest attracts a lot of attention in 2024 - and reaches more viewers than last year.
The controversial Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) attracted a large audience in 2024. 163 million people watched the three live shows across 37 broadcasters, as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced on Thursday. That is one million more viewers than last year in Liverpool and an increase of two million since the 2022 ESC in Turin.
Against the backdrop of the Gaza war, the world's largest music competition was accompanied by loud protests and a politically charged atmosphere surrounding Israel's participation this year. The surprising exclusion of the Netherlands on the day of the grand finale also caused quite a stir.
Votes were cast from 156 countries worldwide. In Germany, an average of 8.1 million viewers watched the final. In the UK, the figure was 7.7 million. France reached 5.4 million viewers, a whole 1.9 million more than in the previous year.
From the winning country, Switzerland, an average of 723,000 viewers watched from the three language regions. According to the EBU, this was 40 percent more than the previous year and the highest level ever recorded.
The share of the young audience was particularly striking: among 15 to 24-year-olds, this was 58.6% at the final, the highest share ever. The competition also marked a milestone by reaching almost 500 million accounts on TikTok, quadrupling its reach compared to 2023, according to the EBU. The overall audience rating for the grand final was 46.7% - the highest since 2006.
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