We did it! Eurovision 2015 has come to an end and it’s clear the Australian audience was all over this contest like Vegemite on toast. The entire country rallied behind Guy Sebastian and his song “Tonight Again”, and the reception has been overwhelmingly positive. How could us Australians not be proud of Guy? Achieving fifth place with 196 points in an incredibly competitive field on your country’s debut is no mean feat.
Eurovision TV viewing ratings are at an all-time high Down Under and Eurovision 2015 acts are climbing the Australian charts. As Eurovision fever grips the nation, let’s feel the heat and examine the Aussie reaction…
Australia: Highest Eurovision RATINGS ever
As reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, the contest recorded a total viewing audience of over 4.2 million people — significantly higher than the 2.7 million from the 2014 contest. Of that 4.2 million, 263,000 watched the contest bleary eyed as the contest played live at 5am local time.
These are the highest ratings ever recorded by SBS – which is amazing considering that SBS broadcasts most international sporting events such as the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup.
THE CHARTS
After the delayed broadcast of the grand final in Australia — which is generally in the top five most programs watched in the year — Eurovision acts flooded the Australian iTunes charts. As of Monday 25 May, the Eurovision 2015 CD was #1. Australia’s Guy Sebastian saw his track hit #2. Sweden’s Måns Zelmerlöw and his track ‘Heroes’ reached #8. Other charting artists included:
ALBUMS
‘Conchita’ by Conchita Wurst – #32
‘Perfectly Damaged’ by Måns Zelmerlöw (Pre-Order) – #60
‘San Remo Grande Amore’ by Il Volo – #82
‘Madness’ by Guy Sebastian (Re-enter) – #122
‘Heroes (Remixes) EP’ by Måns Zelmerlöw – #160
SINGLES
Belgium’s Loïc Nottet with ‘Rhythm Inside’ – #25
Russia’s Polina Gagarina with ‘A Million Voices’ – #56
Latvia’s Aminata with ‘Love Injected’ – #58
Estonia’s Elina and Stig with ‘Goodbye to Yesterday’ – #66
Norway’s Mørland and Debrah Scarlet with ‘A Monster Like Me’ – #75
Austria’s The Makemakes with ‘I Am Yours’ – #87
Israel’s Nadav Guedj with ‘Golden Boy – #88
United Kingdom’s Electro Velvet with ‘Still In Love With You’ – #114
Italy’s Il Volo with ‘Grande Amore’ – #115
Serbia’s Bojana Stamenov with ‘Beauty Never Lies’ – #139
Georgia’s Nina Sublatti with ‘Warrior’ – #147
Cyprus’ John Karayiannis with ‘One Thing I Should’ve Done’ – #152
Conchita Wurst’s ‘Firestorm’ – #158
Conchita Wurst’s ‘You Are Unstoppable’ – #176
Germany’s Ann Sophie with ‘Black Smoke’ #177
Lithuania’s Monika and Vaidas with ‘This Time’ #194
Guy Sebastian and Australia’s involvement in this year’s Eurovision helped drive bigger and better results for the land Down Under. Even if Australia doesn’t participate again, will we see a trend of onwards and upwards from here? Only time will tell!
So proud that we invited and did well at Eurovision this year!
Thank you, Eurovision Song Contest! We had a blast!
@Alex
Oh another thing I forgot, Eurovision has to stay on SBS. SBS is the only multicultural channel and Eurovision is a multicultural program. A lot of people watching Eurovision are first or second generation Australians with European heritage
@Alex
Between 500,000 – 600,000 watched the final on Sunday night. Saturday night received the most ratings. Too many other popular shows on a Sunday night here in Aus, the final was the 10th most popular show on Sunday night.
If Eurovision was on a popular broadcaster, it would’ve seen bigger ratings.
How many people watched the final in the evening?
I am so glad Australia did participate. It was cool! 🙂
“this is a little misleading. 4.2 million over all the three nights AND the three live morning shows.”
Eurovision ratings: Gotta love ’em.
Continental Australia has 5 time zones. It was 5 AM in all of them? 😉
for once actually proud to be Australian
india should join
I don t want to see Australia every year in contest, maybe as guest in every 4 years , because how one members of juries votes for Russia… What EBU say about juries voting in Australia. Why votes from juries is combined with televote .
So happy with all that <3 GJ
Yep. 3.00am here in the West. That meant that we went back to bed after the semi-finals at 5.00am for 2 hours before we got up and went back to work. This worked well for the final, which finished 7am Western time, just in time for me to get ready and head off to my Sunday job (as I left the house, there seemed to be a mass of bodies piled in my lounge room which I can only assume were asleep). Somehow, I made it thru all the acts on the delayed telecast as well. Needless to say, today… Read more »
local time?? lol it was 3 am in Western Australia
@Tobias
I agree with you. EBU should not coax countries to participate because they usually send terrible songs. Do you think Portugal is coaxed?
Maxim doesn’t understand how Eurovision works. All members of the EBU can participate.
this is a little misleading. 4.2 million over all the three nights AND the three live morning shows. the more accurate number is around 700,000 for the grand final, but that is the morning (around 200,000) and repeat at night (around 500,000) numbers put together. sbs said they were aiming for 1 million for the final so they missed it
I want Australia to participate, they are great!
But i don’t want China, they will complete ruin the contest, they are full of tricks and traps!
I don’t want the EBU to coax countries like Slovakia or Luxembourg into re-joining. Countries that feel lukewarm about the contest end up sending subpar songs. I guess Italy is the exception, but not every country has a San Remo festival.
@ Maxim
But these countries dont want to participate! And Australia taking party at the ESC doesnt mean that other countries cannot.
It was good for one time! So now the EBU doesn’t have to invite other countries, It’s still ridiculous. They should ask countries like Slovakia,Luxumbourgh to compete again and not countries outside Europe ..
I am so pleased that the country got behind the song contest. 4.2 million people is over 20% of the population.
PS: SBS doesn’t broadcast the Olympics; Football World Cup yes
Australia will be back next year: no questions asked! It’s the best boost the contest could have got given the withdraws of immediate EBU members or the lack of willingness to participate due to different political and cultural perceptions (North Africa and Middle East members). Australia’s participation has proven to be beneficial for all parties involved and the best thing to come out of it is that SBS truly turned it into a three day popular happening nationwide and once you start a tradition, you don’t go back to the way things were.
I hope Australia do stay in the competition.
I still think there should be one guest spot per year for a country that wants to (and has the money to) participate. If the ratings in China were decent, let them take part next year.
Ofocurse the EBU will give Australia a spot in the ESC forever…
i however will not like if china will be able to participate…uuggh
@Patrick, trust me, nobody here even listens to her anymore. 😛
Keep us! 🙂
Wow. That is impressive. Great! Maybe we have to accept the fact they deserve to be a contestant annually?
And what about the ratings in China? 🙂
He was Ok. Should have been Kylie though, she would have won by a landslide .
He did amazing, loved his performance
I get the feeling that the EBU will invite Australia back if enough European countries pull out. Which they may well do as we’re going back to expensive Sweden.