Eurovision Song Contest

[ekane]

Maybe during an ad break? Might be on the official eurovision upload on YouTube.

[Brianc68]

@TV.Cynic

Israel gets top public vote from 14 countries in Eurovision – plus ‘rest of the world’

Ultimately, Israel got top marks from voters in Australia, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, plus the “rest of the world” aggregate. It also got 10 points, the second-highest possible, from Albania, Austria, Cyprus, Czechia, Moldova, Slovenia and even Ireland, considered by many to be one of the most anti-Israel countries in Europe.

Overall, Israel received 323 televote points, just behind Croatia’s 337 points, and ahead of Ukraine’s 307 points from the public. Croatia got top marks from nine countries and Ukraine from seven.

Really interesting. Of course many would have voted purely on the song itself, which was strong. But it also shows that there is a lot of hidden support for Israel across Europe. The loudest are not always the majority.

[TV.Cynic]

@JBar

Did I miss this or did SBS edit it out?

It was during an add break on SBS - just after Switzerland performed.

[JBar]

Maybe a lot of people who support Israel flooded the voting lines to make s political statement.

[JBar]

@TV.Cynic

It was during an add break on SBS - just after Switzerland performed.

So we have longer ad breaks which cut into the content seen in other countries?

[Brianc68]

@JBar

Maybe a lot of people who support Israel flooded the voting lines to make s political statement.

Or maybe not. Perhaps the majority support Israel. Have you been to Europe? I’m actually here right now.

Sometimes people refuse to see the reality of a situation, particularly those caught up in a popular movement/protest. They can’t accept they’re not the majority, and have to look for some other “reason”. Similar situation with the Voice referendum. Many still can’t accept the result and that they were in the minority.

Europe is still overwhelmingly a Judeo-Christian society. Are we forgetting the outpouring of support for Israel immediately following the October attacks? Even though the majority may not support what’s happening right now it doesn’t mean they agree with Palestine and Hamas either. Blaming bots or only angry “minorities” for the results is ridiculous and classic confirmation bias.

[TelevisionAU]

@JBar

Maybe a lot of people who support Israel flooded the voting lines to make s political statement.

yep and a lot of people boycotting voting at all in protest at Israel competing. That’s also going to tip the scales in Israel’s favour.

Also I saw on socials that Israel was also aggressively targetting marketing for votes, including a billboard at Times Square. It was alleged that this is not allowed under EBU rules but I am not aware of a specific rule that exists about that. Someone more fluent in ESC might know for sure.

https://twitter.com/IsraelinNewYork/status/1789022591316828335

We also can’t rule out the possibility of bots being used to flood voting lines. I am not saying this happened here, but given such a politically-divisive issue has infiltrated the contest, to see an overwhelmingly high vote for Israel across so many countries it could have been possible.

@JBar

So we have longer ad breaks which cut into the content seen in other countries?

Maybe, although some broadcasters have no ad breaks at all e.g. BBC. But we’ve long known SBS to be a bit brutal with chopping out segments.

[JBar]

@TelevisionAU

But we’ve long known SBS to be a bit brutal with chopping out segments.

I wouldn’t mind if thet delayed the telecast to fit in more ads so we didn’t actually miss stuff. I guess we missed more audience and green room interviews.

[TelevisionAU]

@JBar

I wouldn’t mind if thet delayed the telecast to fit in more ads so we didn’t actually miss stuff.

Last night’s telecast went to midnight as it was. They couldn’t have stretched it any later.

@JBar

I guess we missed more audience and green room interviews.

there have been years we’ve missed whole chunks of interval acts etc, particularly for the prime-time replay here so they can fit in their own content. The live broadcasts aren’t as bad because it’s live and they wouldn’t be splice in their own content in real-time as easily, which is why we only saw the Courtney Act segments in the prime time replays.

Mind you, none of this is the train wreck that was 2001 when SBS totally gutted the Eurovision coverage for studio-based coverage hosted by Effie

[TV.Cynic]

@JBar

So we have longer ad breaks which cut into the content seen in other countries?

Not necessarily. BBC has no ad breaks so this was what they broadcast instead while commercial stations went to breaks.

[MrJ]

@TelevisionAU

Also I saw on socials that Israel was also aggressively targetting marketing for votes, including a billboard at Times Square. It was alleged that this is not allowed under EBU rules but I am not aware of a specific rule that exists about that. Someone more fluent in ESC might know for sure.

We also can’t rule out the possibility of bots being used to flood voting lines. I am not saying this happened here, but given such a politically-divisive issue has infiltrated the contest, to see an overwhelmingly high vote for Israel across so many countries it could have been possible.

Israel has the world’s largest propaganda budget. I’d find it hard to believe they would let this opportunity pass.

The SBS unofficial viewer vote had Israel at the bottom on 30%, yet they got the top televote? How is that discrepancy explained? The rest of the votes aligned well, Croatia topping the sbs vote at 96%

[LiamP]

Yes, it definitely seems like there was a bit of astroturfing on the Israeli delegation’s part. They only just managed to make top 5 based purely on how strong the televoting was for them, with only 52 points given to them in total by the juries themselves.

[Brianc68]

@MrJ

@TelevisionAU

Also I saw on socials that Israel was also aggressively targetting marketing for votes, including a billboard at Times Square. It was alleged that this is not allowed under EBU rules but I am not aware of a specific rule that exists about that. Someone more fluent in ESC might know for sure.

We also can’t rule out the possibility of bots being used to flood voting lines. I am not saying this happened here, but given such a politically-divisive issue has infiltrated the contest, to see an overwhelmingly high vote for Israel across so many countries it could have been possible.

Israel has the world’s largest propaganda budget.

Source?

[jag3146]

We shouldn’t be having the Israel contoversy, quite simply they should have been expelled from the competition this year. I have no problem with the country, only it’s dictator PM who is intent on being at war just like Putin.

Onto another topic, how I miss the days of Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang. I am a Myff fan but if I had to hear her say one more time “this is a great track”, I may have gone mad. Myff it’s a song contest, song Myff song. Tracks are on LP’s and CD’s, you know, like you used to introduce on radio. As for Joel he may be a good standup comedian but not a fan of his broadcasting talents (or lack thereof). And IMO they both take Eurovision way too seriously.

AND Croatia should have won!

[JBar]

@jag3146

We shouldn’t be having the Israel contoversy, quite simply they should have been expelled from the competition this year. I have no problem with the country, only it’s dictator PM who is intent on being at war just like Putin.

This is why they are criticising Erik Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest. Russia was banned for the war on Ukraine but Israel was not.

[MrJ]

The other double standard that is not getting much attention is that Belarus was kicked out of the EBU in 2021 because of the free press violations, yet they seem ok for Israel to remain after killing over 100 journalists in 6 months?

[TelevisionAU]

@jag3146

I am a Myff fan but if I had to hear her say one more time “this is a great track”

“It’s a real banger”

@jag3146

AND Croatia should have won!

I was hoping they would pinch the lead from Switzerland right at the end

[TV.Cynic]

Eurovision delivers strong Total TV audiences for SBS, with more than 2.2 million Australians tuning in

• Total TV national Reach across SBS’s live and prime time broadcasts of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest was more than 2.2 million people, with 150,000 watching exclusively on SBS on Demand.
• The Grand Final achieved a Total TV National Reach of 1.3 million, with 80,000 viewers watching exclusively on SBS on Demand.
• The first Semi-final achieved a Total TV national Reach of 1.1 million, with 80,500 viewers watching exclusively on SBS on Demand.
• The second Semi-final achieved a Total TV national Reach of 931,000, with 54,700 viewers watching exclusively on SBS on Demand.
• Early rising Eurovision fans boosted BVOD viewership, choosing to tune in live on SBS On Demand for the morning broadcasts, compared to the evening prime time shows (see table below).

SBS Director of Television Kathryn Fink said, “SBS has been bringing Eurovision to Australians for more than 40 years as a celebration of diversity and culture through music, and this year we saw audiences come together in the early hours to watch our live coverage, and more tuning in to watch our special prime time evening shows across the weekend.

“From the beautiful and history-making performance of Electric Fields representing Australia in semi-final 1, to all the colour, chaos and key changes across performances that featured everything from dazzling light shows, spinning stages, and even doilies – it was fantastic to see so many Australian fans coming to SBS across TV and SBS On Demand for their Eurovision fix in 2024.”

Fan and jury favourite Switzerland’s Nemo was crowned the winner of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest with their song The Code being awarded a total of 591 points – 226 from the public and 365 from the jury. Croatia’s Baby Lasagna placed second with Rim Tim Tagi Dim and third Ukraine’s Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil with Teresa & Maria.

The scores of the voting juries and viewing public in 37 countries (including Australia) – and for the first time – the rest of the world, were combined for the official results. Aussie Silia Kapsis who represented Cyprus with her song Liar finished in 15th place with a total of 78 points.

South Australia’s powerful duo Electric Fields made Australia proud with their history-making performance of One Milkali (One Blood) in Semi Final 1 earlier this week at Malmö Arena, however they sadly did not qualify for this year’s Grand Final, despite a powerful performance.

This year marked the seventh time Sweden hosted Eurovision after previously hosting three times in Stockholm (1975, 2000, 2016), twice in Malmö (1992, 2013) and once in Gothenburg (1985). It was also 50 years since ABBA won the contest with their song Waterloo, setting them on course for global success.

The Eurovision Song Contest is the world’s biggest live music event and in 2023 it attracted 162 million viewers worldwide.

[Chris]

@MrJ

The SBS unofficial viewer vote had Israel at the bottom on 30%, yet they got the top televote? How is that discrepancy explained? The rest of the votes aligned well, Croatia topping the sbs vote at 96%

Easily explained. You probably had close to 30% of viewers put all of their votes on Israel whereas the rest of the audience was spread across the 24 other artists.

Also a completely different audience in primetime, many knowing the result and probably feeling compelled to vote against them in those polls.

The biggest controversy this year might ultimately be the reason that Joost Klein (Netherlands) was pulled from the final and it could affect certain countries decision to participate next year. I’m hearing a fair bit of chatter that the Israel team (not necessarily the artist, but people from the team that came to Eurovision) were being pests to other artists behind the scenes. A lot of the artists requested to not be in videos or photos with the Israel team (which is fair enough given what’s happening) but the Israel team weren’t respecting this. It’s the reason Kaarja from Finalnd pulled out of reading their televotes because they posted a photo of him with Eden Golan without his permission. Bambie Thug from Ireland is starting to become quite vocal about this regarding complaints to the EBU that many in the Top 10 made about the team, who were not respecting their requests which ultimately lead to the altercation with Joost (he was being filmed against his request, so snapped back verbally either to them or another production crew that was present).

[MrJ]

@Chris

@MrJ

The SBS unofficial viewer vote had Israel at the bottom on 30%, yet they got the top televote? How is that discrepancy explained? The rest of the votes aligned well, Croatia topping the sbs vote at 96%

Easily explained. You probably had close to 30% of viewers put all of their votes on Israel whereas the rest of the audience was spread across the 24 other artists.

There wouldn’t be any vote spreading, audiences vote yes/no to every act.