Does Eurovision have what it takes to establish itself as a digital event?
Amid protests against Israel’s actions in Palestine, the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 took place this weekend, in the city of Malmö, Sweden. The event, considered the biggest music competition on the planet, is a European TV tradition, taking place for 68 years, with several countries competing for the title. But, in modern times of broadcast content, would Eurovision have what it takes to establish itself as a digital event?
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The Eurovision audience on YouTube
While on television, Eurovision still attracts millions of viewers in several countries that have permission to broadcast the contest, on the internet, the event falls a little in public interest, but still brings together millions of people around the world.
With its eye on the digital world for some time now, the Eurovision Song Contest is broadcast every year on the event’s official YouTube channel. This is how fans of the event from all over the planet can watch it officially, without digital subterfuge to access a channel with broadcast permission.
And for this year 2024, the event saw an increase in its YouTube audience of 8.6% at the maximum peak of viewers, reaching 1.55 million users. For comparison purposes, the record holder for peak viewers was Eurovision 2022, which took place in Italy. That year, the event garnered a peak viewership of 1.82 million users.
Despite not having surpassed the year 2022, Eurovision 2024 is the record holder in Average Viewers during its broadcast, gaining an average of 806,561 users watching the event live in its three broadcasts (two semi-finals and the grand final).
In the broadcast of the final alone, which took place this Saturday (11) and crowned Nemo, from Switzerland, as the great champion, with the song “The Code”, the average number of viewers was 1.26 million users, according to data released by the website StreamsCharts.
Controversies overshadowed the event
The participation of Israel in the event, a country currently involved in a war against Palestine, overshadowed the shine of Eurovision 2024 and caused great tensions not only outside the show arena, with protests throughout the city of Malmö, but also inside the arena, with booing from the public during the Israeli presentation and even problems involving the Israeli delegation and other participants in the contest.
In his victory speech, Nemo went as far as to criticize the Eurovision organization by stating that he hopes the event “can live up to its promise and continue to stand for peace and dignity for every person in this world”.
Talking about his trophy which he broke moments after receiving it (and which was quickly replaced), Nemo went on to jab at the festival: “I broke the code and I broke the trophy. Maybe the trophy can be fixed. Maybe Eurovision needs a little bit of fixing too every now and then.”
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