Betting Odds: Ukraine remain firm favourites heading into the Grand Final…
With just hours to go until the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra remain the overwhelming favourites to lift the trophy.The closest competitor at time of writing is the United Kingdom, who have gained major momentum following an impressive series of rehearsals and a plum spot in the running order. Sweden are sitting in third place, followed by Italy and Spain. Spain and the United Kingdom are hoping to turn around a long run of poor score. Spain last cracked the top ten in 2014, and have finished in the bottom five every year since. The picture is even worse for the United Kingdom, who haven’t seen the left-hand side of the scoreboard since 2011. Both countries scored the dreaded nul points with the televoters in 2021. At the bottom of the betting pile, Germany, Lithuania, Iceland, Belgium and Romania are considered the rank outsiders for victory. If you think WRS is being slept on by the bookies, you could take advantage of odds as generous as 999/1. Stranger things have happened…
Finalists already seeing chart success across Europe…
With interest in the Contest reaching a peak in the international media, many of the contestants are also seeing chart success in their home countries and abroad. Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra is currently charting on the official Spotify charts in twelve countries, followed by The Netherlands in ten countries, Norway in nine and Italy and Sweden in seven. The countries whose listeners have gone the most Eurovision crazy appear to be Iceland and Lithuania. There are currently 37 of this year’s entries in the Icelandic Spotify charts, and 31 entries in the Lithuanian listings. In the United Kingdom, Sam Ryder has entered the official singles chart at #78.
Record-breaking ratings for the Semi Finals in Italy
Since returning to the Contest in 2011, the Italian TV audience has taken a little time to warm up to Eurovision. However, the success of Måneskin and the opportunity to host appears to have boosted the show’s popularity significantly. Both of the semi finals drew in around 5.5 million Italian viewers, far above expectations and in fact representing the largest figures for any Eurovision show since 1991. Other countries have also reported strong ratings this year. In Spain, excitement around Chanel’s performance has already seen the semi final viewing figures almost double compared to 2021. In the Netherlands, both semi finals dominated the ratings for their respective days, while in the UK, semi final broadcaster BBC3 drew in around 500,000 – their third-best ratings since returning to the air last year. The Grand Final of Eurovision 2021 was viewed by an estimated 183 million people worldwide, including 4.5 million in Italy and 7 million in the United Kingdom.
Eliminated Broadcasters confirm their plans for 2023
We don’t even know where we’ll be going next year yet, but that isn’t stopping some of this year’s participating broadcasters from looking to the future. In particular, several nations that failed to qualify to the Grand Final this year have responded by clarifying their positions on future participation. San Marino’s RTV stated that despite Achille Lauro’s non-qualification, they were very happy with their performance this year and anticipate a return to their new national selection format in 2023. Austria’s ORF also confirmed that they would review their selection processes following the elimination of Lum!x and Pia Maria, but confirmed their intent to be present at the next Contest. Israel’s KAN also revealed that they would submit a tender and will likely host another national selection, as they have every year since 2015. There was less positive news from North Macedonia, whose broadcaster MRT released a statement that they would consider withdrawing from the competition, following a media backlash against their singer Andrea. However, their future at the Contest has not yet been confirmed.
You can read more about this month’s news by signing up to the ESC Insight Newsletter. Read this month’s edition online here.