Eurovision 2022: 161 million viewers watched the 66th edition of the contest

• A total of 161 million viewers tuned in to watch the 66th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest confirming its title as the biggest live TV song competition in the world.

  The numbers have been counted the after math has been done in order for the EBU to deliver us a solid outcome of this year's contest tv viewing figures. 

  This year's Eurovision show which took place at Pala Olimpico in Turin achieved to attract a total of 161 million people on their screen to watch the event in 36 measured markets in which there was an increase of 7 million spectators. And the overall absolute number of viewers may be less than last year but must take into account that two major markets which laat year scored a total of 29 million every year were not counted in this year.

  More interesting are the figures regarding the live shows, the group of ages and the countries audience. Let go and take a look at them in parts: 

   

  The live shows and audience 

  The viewing share for the Grand Final on Saturday 14 May was up three percentage points on 2021 at 43.3%, and remains more than double the broadcast channels average (18.2%). 

  They say the future lays on the younger generations, a group on which the competition can rely on for glorious future times as the Contest was a massive hit with young audiences.  Among 15–24 year-olds, the viewing share of the Grand Final was up three percentage points on 2021 at 56.2%, remaining four times higher than the broadcast channels average (14.0%).

   

  The countries 

  A very wide number of countries saw their national audience grow for this year's competition. Host country Italy delivered their biggest audience on record (since 2011 when they re-joined the Contest), up +53% on 2021, with an average audience of 6.6 million viewers, accounting for 41.9% of TV viewing in the country.

  Spain and the United Kingdom’s success at the Contest (finishing 3rd and 2nd respectively) did not leave the national audience ingnorant which honored their hopefuls watching the show giving the  best TV audiences of the past decade.

  Specifically, 6.8 million viewers on average watched in Spain, up 86% on 2021, and their highest audience since 2008.The United Kingdom delivered the largest audience of all markets in 2022 with 8.9 million viewers watching the Grand Final, up 20% on 2021. 

  In 13 out of 34 market the contest attracted over 50% of the viewing share, led by Iceland with 96.4% and followed closely by other Nordic markets (Norway 89.1%, Sweden 81.4% and Finland 72.1%).

  The other markets which saw more than 50% of total TV viewers watch the Grand Final were Armenia, Flemish-speaking Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. Let take a look at some countries' statistics: 

   

  United Kingdom - 8,9 million viewers ( 55% share) the highest of all markets

  The Netherlands - 6,8 million viewers (68,5%) 

  Germany - 6,54 million viewers (50%) 

  Portugal - 1,29 million viewers (41,2%).

  Italy - 6,59 million viewers (41,9%) the highest since 2011.

  France - 3,175 million viewers (23,4%) 2,3 million less than 2021.

  Spain - 6,835 million viewers (50,8%) +2,7 from 2021 and the biggest since 2008.

  Austria - 503.000 viewers (30,2%) -90,000 from 2021 and the lowest since 2013.

  Romania - 369.000 viewers (8,4%) - The largest since 2017.

  Australia - 400.000 combined viewers (live & replay) - +112.000 from last year.

  Belgium - 1,066,869 viewers on EEN flemmish speaking tv - Walloon broadcaster La Une recorded 352,324 viewers.

  Norway - 1,2 million viewers (89% share) -275.000 viewers but +3,3% in the share.

  Greece - 1,995 million viewers (52,2%) five times larger than the next popular show on Greek tv.

  Denmark - 529.000 viewers - 4000 less than 2021 and the lowest since 2007.

  Finland - 2,0 million viewers - 0,4 million less than 2021 but still the most popular show on Finnish tv the week.

  Lithuania - +1 million viewers (18% share).

  Cyprus - 80.000 viewers ( 53,8% down to 2021) 100.000 viewers less and the lowerst audience over the last decade.

  Poland - 3,413 million viewers (36,35% share) +2,29 million increase from 2021 the lasrgest audience since 2016.

  Czech Republic - 137.000 viewers - 44,000 less than 2021, the lowest since 2015.

   

  Massive numbers for the Online and social media audience 

  TikTok platform

  TikTok became the Eurovision Song Contest’s Official Entertainment Partner in 2022 with the 3 Live Shows streamed on the platform for the first time. The platform saw a total of 189 million video views on the official Eurovision account during the two weeks leading up to the Grand Final.

   

  Live streaming

  3.3 million unique viewers watched the Grand Final live on the platform with 5.1 live streams in total. The Semi-Finals were streamed nearly 4 million times. 9.2 million engagement actions (such as liking, commenting etc) took place on TikTok in the week of the Contest.

   

  Youtube channel

  In the same week, 42.3 million unique viewers across 232 countries and territories watched content on the official YouTube channel. The number watching the Grand Final on YouTube rose nearly 50% year on year to 7.6 million unique viewers for the live show. The most views were in winning country Ukraine with over 2.2 million views to date. 63% of all those watching on YouTube were aged 18–34 years old.

   

  Having all this brillian figures reflecting another successful year for the contest, Martin Osterdahl ( EBU/ Eurovision Song Contest Executive Supervisor) says:

  "We couldn’t be happier to see the success of the Eurovision Song Contest across all our Members’ channels and on our digital platforms this year.

  Once again, we have seen the enormous popularity of the Contest among young audiences, some of whom are discovering the event for the first time. The Eurovision Song Contest truly has global appeal demonstrated by the millions watching in every territory on earth and millions more interacting on social media".

   

   

   News Source/Image: EBU- Eurovision.tv

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

AUTHORS

Angelos D.
Loyal follower of the Eurovision Song Contest since 1987, I've made the competition one of the stories of my life. After attending as accredited press the event for 13 consecutive years along with the 2017-2024 JESC editions, I also enjoy the last three years sharing more Eurovision music through the Eurofans radio's project.