Originally posted by robert: Yesterday's Eurovision Song Contest's final was watched in UK by 7.1 million viewers. That's lower than usual but still very big (for comparison the biggest scripted british show pull 7-8 million viewers, Lost gets 600,000 but on cable) Last year Eurovision Song Contest was watched by almost 190 million viewers in Europe, making it the biggest non-sporting event in the world (outside India and China)
Not surprised by the "low" numbers. This year's edition was boring. Plus there is a disintrest among Western European countries in the Song Contest due to the "Neighbours friendly voting pattern". And this year we had a second semifinale thrown in the mix. 7 hours in a week is IMO overkill. The Euro 2008 (European Football or Soccer Competition) will begin over 2 weeks that should spike up the ratings in Europe.
I've watched the recording through internet and i found this year's show quite good. As for the western european numbers they're still very good in UK, Spain, nordic countries.
To each its own. I didn't even have a favorite this year as opposed to the last editions where I had at least 4 or 5 favorites. Anyway the voting is so predictable, you know in advance for which countries a given country will vote. It takes the suspense away.
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I don't think the 2 semifinals is overkill beacause in most countries the semifinal in which they don't take part is broadcasted on a secondary channel
True. Some countries didn't even air the semifinal in which they didn't take part. Some countries didn't even air the final on the primary channel but on the secondary or third channel like e.g. France.
