Large viewership tuned into controversial 2024 Eurovision Song Contest

Hosts Malin Akerman and Petra Mede at the contest's 2024 final. Keystone

 With politically charged and somewhat chaotic aspects, the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest attracted a lot of attention and reached more viewers than in the previous year. 

The controversial 2024 Eurovision Song Contest met with strong viewer interest: 163 million people watched the three live shows across its 37 broadcasters, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced on Thursday. That is one million more viewers than last year’s contest, held in Liverpool, and an increase of two million since the 2022 edition in Turin. 

Against the backdrop of the Gaza war, the world’s largest music competition was accompanied this year by vociferous protests and a politically charged atmosphere surrounding Israel’s participation. The surprising exclusion of the Netherlands on the day of the grand finale also caused quite a stir. 

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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, an increase of 1.9 million over the previous year. 

In the winning country, Switzerland, an average of 723,000 viewers watched from the three language regions. According to the EBU, this was 40% more than the previous year and the highest number ever recorded in the country for this televised event. 

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The proportion of young viewers was particularly striking: 15- to 24-year-olds made up 58.6% of viewers for the contest’s final, representing the highest proportion ever. The contest also marked a milestone by reaching almost 500 million accounts on TikTok, quadrupling its reach compared to 2023, according to the EBU. In addition, the overall viewer rating for the grand final was 46.7% – the highest figure since 2006. 

Adapted from German by DeepL/kc/amva

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