I want to say that 2016-17 drop is also due to the loss of the Russian audience (2016 they were favourites to win, 2017 they didn’t take part) but then it doesn’t massively recover when they’re back, so I’d add other countries slowly dropping out over recent years bringing the total down.

Highest total in four years then for 2025, hope the slow upward trajectory continues.

21 hours ago, Padamic_Tension said:

Im probably alone in saying this but i found this years contest overall very disappointing, i felt there was something really missing this year plus i really felt the songs were so much weaker this year than the last numerous years.

I’ve heard this said a lot and I wonder if some of it was due to the muted audience, which psychologically makes it sound much less epic and lower scale than before.

1 hour ago, Tafty said:

Also, I think peak interest in Eurovision was 2016! That contest was STACKED (plus iirc that year was the year they had an actual global Superstar in the interval, right? Justin Timberlake performing 'Can't Stop the Feeling') so that had huge hype then. So they were always going to have quite the drop in viewers, I reckon.

I'll just blame the fact 2017 had the dullest song become the major front runner

Somehow that "dullest song" still holds the points record and is the last song to win both jury vote and televote!

7 minutes ago, Sour Candy said:

Somehow that "dullest song" still holds the points record and is the last song to win both jury vote and televote!

Doesn’t mean it’s not (imo) the dullest song in existence.

I’m very aware of it dominating the jury and televote.

2017 definitely wasn't a great contest for me. My two favourites were Netherlands, which was lovely but not a classic, and Italy, which was so much worse than its Sanremo performance and studio version.

Not a vintage year whatsoever.

1 hour ago, BillyH said:

I’ve heard this said a lot and I wonder if some of it was due to the muted audience, which psychologically makes it sound much less epic and lower scale than before.

Possibly, the audience definitely seemed more muted than normal, and the atmosphere was lacing in comparison to previous year.

I also felt there was some sound issues with some of the performances but overall the main disappointment for me was the quality of the songs.

Love to see Deslocado do so well!!