In any given year, searches related to the Eurovision Song Contest are staples of the Google Trends Year in Search lists. Sadly, Eurovision and its starts don’t feature as prominently on the lists in 2020 owing to one very ugly elephant in the room: the coronavirus. As you’d expect, the pandemic dominated pretty much every list in every country as it upended our lives and the global economy.
Even so, there are still some Eurovision-related highlights to tuck into. The 2020 contest may have been cancelled, but the official replacement show Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light and the Netflix Eurovision movie gave the show new air with the search engine.
Eurovision on Google’s Year in Search 2020
In an average year, Eurovision achieves one major peak in terms of searches. As you’d expect, that takes place in May timed with the grand final. As with so many things, 2020 gave us something different. In 2020 we have three smaller peaks during which people searched for Eurovision.
The first peak of Googling “Eurovision” came during the week that the contest was called off. The second peak occurred around the broadcast of Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light, when Eurovision was meant to take place. Eurovision achieved its largest peak in searches in late June as the Netflix film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga appeared on the streaming service.
In several countries, “Eurovision 2020” ended up amongst the most-searched for items. In Belarus, the contest was the fourth most-searched for TV show, while in Ukraine it ranked eighth.
The national preselections appeared in a few lists as well. In Slovenia, its national selection EMA was the seventh most-searched for item. On the other side of the border, Italy‘s colossal Festival di Sanremo reached third position in the events section behind Serie A football and the American presidential elections.
Netflix Eurovision movie on Google Trends
While the Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga did not crack any of the top searches charts, it led to increased searches for “Eurovision” worldwide — and most especially in the United States and other Anglophone markets, such as the United Kingdom and Ireland. Searches for the contest surged extensively in the week of the release of the movie.
Eurovision as a contest benefitted, but so too did the stars featured in the movie. In the United States, Conchita Wurst, Netta and Alexander Rybak experienced a huge surge in searches.
At the same time, in the United Kingdom, Loreen saw a large amount of Google users looking for her, whereas Estonians gave Elina Nechayeva another search. Eurovision 2017 winner Salvador Sobral, who played a busker in the movie, also received a large number of searches in both the American and British markets.
Eurovision singers on Google’s Year in Search
2020 has been marked by the success of one particular television format in Europe: The Masked Singer. Several past Eurovision contestants appeared on the show in dazzling costumes in their home markets. A few even made it all the way to the top of the podium, which drove their success in the Google statistics too.
In the Netherlands, The Masked Singer winner and Eurovision 2011 contestant Jan Dulles ranked #6 on the charts for Dutch Artists. Meanwhile, in Belgium, The Masked Singer and Eurovision 1986 winner Sandra Kim was the third most-searched for Belgian person.
Sadly, 2020 was also the year in which we had to say farewell to several Eurovision stars. One of the most remarkable was the Norwegian icon Jahn Teigen, who participated in the contest three times. Teigen was the seventh most-searched for person in Norway this year.
Are you surprised by the trends? Or are they as expected? What do you expect to trend next year? Let us know below.
I still haven’t seen the Netflix movie, but I expect many Americans have. Would it bother anyone that if they hear ‘Eurovision’ they might think “hey that Will Ferrell movie!!” Instead of the actual contest, or the artists? Or do you see it as a entry point that may lead them to wanting to know more about it?
I could live without Eurovision Shine a Light being searched or Googled ever again..
That was a painful depressing sombre show to sit through!
I wish they would have taken back a bit that “Corona virus is here, stay safe” etc. talks that _every_ artist said.
It would have been fine seeing some clips of the 2020 songs for 2 min each, hosts saying something about the virus and such and then wrap it all up with the EBU anthem hymn sung by all the contestants showing one artist after another “joining” the virtual choir and that’s it.
Keep it simple