Eurovision 2017: Over 180 million viewers for the contest in Kiev

The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was seen by over 180 million viewers. The contest got about 20 million viewers less for several reasons, including the absence of Russia in the contest. The three live shows from Kiev, Ukraine on the 9th, 11th and 13th of May reached around 182 million people across 42 markets.

Russia did not air any of the shows following the travel ban for their artist to Ukraine and exclusion from the competition. But also the influence of the clash with UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League semi finals on the 9th and 11th will be a factor on the downfall of the viewing figures. The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the first contest in history to clash with big European football matches.

Also a lot of positive numbers

The number of people watching the Eurovision Song Contest online more than doubled from 2016. There were 6 million live streaming sessions in 233 territories across the 3 shows on the official ESC YouTube channel and a total of 8.5 million on-demand requests.

Winning country Portugal delivered its largest audience since 2008, an average 1.4 million viewers watched the Grand Final, accounting for 32.5% of Portuguese TV viewing. Second placed Bulgaria had its highest audience on record (since 2003), with 650 thousand viewers accounting for 39.4% of Bulgarian TV viewing. Italy delivered its best audience since re-joining the ESC in 2011 – 3.6 million viewers, up 15% on 2016. Germany saw the highest average viewing figures for the 8th consecutive year (7.8m)

Host country Ukraine delivered its highest viewing share for the ESC Grand Final since 2009 with 1.5 million watching, accounting for 18.8% of Ukrainian TV viewing that night. Iceland once again delivered the largest viewing share of all 42 countries (98%), despite its entry not making it to the final for a third consecutive year. Viewing was even up 16% on 2016 to reach 150 thousand viewers, making it the biggest audience since 2014 when they last made it to the Grand Final.

The Eurovision Song Contest was hugely popular with younger audiences. On average, 42.9% of 15-24 year olds watching TV in 42 countries enjoyed the Grand Final which is 4 times higher than the broadcast channels average of 11.0%. Viewing share is also around 4 times higher than the broadcast channels average among children (4-15 years olds; 34.8% / 8.7%) and Young Adults (25-34 year olds; 38.3% / 10.4%).