The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), the world’s longest running annual TV music competition, was seen by over 180 million viewers in 2017. The 3 live shows from Kyiv, Ukraine on 9, 11 and 13 May reached around 182 million people across 42 markets*. The figure is lower year on year as Russia did not air any of the shows following their withdrawal from the competition.

The 2017 Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest achieved, on average, the same audience share as 2016 of 36.2% - more than double the average prime-time viewing share for the same group of channels (15.8%).

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.

2nd 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%).

The Grand Final of the 62nd Eurovision Song Contest was also broadcast by 19 EBU Radio Members.

Next year’s competition will be held in Portugal for the very first time after the country finally took the trophy following 53 years of participation.

*Source: Results produced by EBU and based on Eurodata TV’s and relevant partners’ data