The 66th Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) earlier this month reached 161 million people over three live shows in 34 measured markets.
This, according to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), was 7 million more than a year earlier.
It adds that the viewing share of the Grand Final was, at 43.3%, 3pp up on 2021 and more than double the broadcast channels average (18.2%). The ESC was particularly popular among young viewers, with the viewing share among 15-24 year olds up 3pp at 56.2%.
Italy, where the ESC was held, delivered its biggest ever audience. It was up 53% on 2021, with an average audience of 6.6 million viewers, accounting for 41.9% of TV viewing in the country.
In a third of markets (13 out of 34) the ESC claimed 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 UK.
The latter two’s success at the Contest (2nd and 3rd placings) was also reflected in their ratings, with both countries delivering their best TV audiences of the past decade.
All told, 6.8 million viewers on average watched in Spain, up 86% on 2021, and their highest audience since 2008.
Meanwhile, the UK delivered the largest audience of all markets in 2022 with 8.9 million viewers watching the Grand Final, up 20% on 2021.
Significantly, the ESC was an online success. TikTok became the ESC’s Official Entertainment Partner in 2022 with the three 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.
Furthermore, 3.3 million unique viewers watched the Grand Final live on the platform with 5.1 live streams in total.
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.
Also, 63% those watching on YouTube were aged 18-34 years old.
Over 8 million Tweets about the Contest were sent during the event week, doubling the record total set in 2021.
In total, videos on the four social channels were watched over 284 million times during the week of the event.
Additionally, between 1 and 15 May the Contest’s official social media accounts generated 22 million engagement actions on posts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.
Content on the official Facebook page reached 24 million people with a further 13.5 million people reached on Instagram where posts were seen over 255 million times.
Commenting on the figures, ESC’s executive supervisor Martin Österdahl said: “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 ESC truly has global appeal demonstrated by the millions watching in every territory on earth and millions more interacting on social media”.
