There is a high chance that this year’s Eurovision Song Contest will be the most-watched yet, as tickets for the grand final sold out in a record 36 minutes. The United Kingdom, specifically the city of Liverpool, has become the host of the 67th edition of the popular competition after organizers assessed that they could not guarantee the safety of production and viewers in last year’s winners’ country, war-torn Ukraine.
Tickets for the grand final cost between £160 and £380, while tickets for the two semifinals ranged from £90 to £290. Approximately three thousand tickets for a total of nine shows – six previews, two semifinal evenings, and the grand final, will be available to displaced Ukrainians at a price of £20.
Broken Records
And while major events in the entertainment world, such as the Oscars or the Grammys, are experiencing a decline in viewership, Eurovision manages to retain audience attention, interestingly, especially among younger viewers. Last year’s competition was followed by 161 million viewers, while engagement in the virtual world broke previous records.
As reported last year by the European Broadcasting Union, the viewership of the final increased by three percent in 34 countries to about 43.3 percent, while the average viewership of broadcasters was 18.2 percent. Among the younger audience aged 15 to 24, viewership also rose by three percent to 56.2 percent, which is four times higher than the average viewership of channels in that age group (14 percent).
During the two weeks leading up to last year’s grand final in Turin, the official Eurovision profile on TikTok recorded as many as 189 million views, and the viewership of the live stream on YouTube increased by nearly 50 percent, with 42.3 million unique visitors following the content posted on that platform.
