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RTÉ News
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Eurovision 2025 watched by 166 million
The Eurovision Song Contest confirmed its place as the world's biggest live televised music event with 166 million viewers in 37 countries watching the 2025 competition, organisers have said. This year's 69th edition in Basel, Switzerland, attracted three million more viewers than last year's contest in Malmö, Sweden, said the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The EBU said Eurovision had seen significant increases in youth engagement with a record 60% of viewers aged 15-24 tuning into the competition. The 17 May final was won by 24-year-old Austrian JJ, whose real name is Johannes Pietsch, singing Wasted Love, which blended techno beats with operatic vocals. "This year's Eurovision Song Contest has once again demonstrated its extraordinary power to unite millions across continents through the joy of music and shared celebration," said Eurovision director Martin Green. After the drama as the votes from national juries and the public were revealed, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel - whose participation drew protests - on 357, and Estonia on 356. Votes were cast from 146 states, with viewers in the United States and Canada voting the most outside Europe, ahead of Mexico, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa. The final commanded viewing shares were above 50% in 19 of the 37 European markets, led by Iceland (98%), Finland (91%), Sweden (90%), Norway (85%), and Denmark (75%). The viewing shares in Finland and in France (40%) were the highest ever for Eurovision in those countries. The highest average audience was in Germany, with 9.1 million viewers - the best figures since 2016, said the EBU. Meanwhile, there were 969 million views on Instagram and 748.5 million on TikTok. Following JJ's win, next year's event will be hosted in Austria. Last week, Eurovision director Martin Green released an open letter following voting concerns surrounding this year's competition. The statement came amid ongoing debates regarding Israel's promotion of its entry, as well as discussions among several national broadcasters about the current voting system. In his letter, Martin Green said Eurovision employs specially developed systems designed to prevent fraudulent voting. "Every year the Reference Group for the Contest, which contains representatives from and acts on behalf of our Members, studies the data provided by our voting partner Once to make recommendations of any actions available to us to ensure our rules and systems remain fail safe and take into account contemporary external factors such as advances in technology and external influences," he wrote. "This process will happen as it always does in June this year."
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Eurovision responds to accusations it encourages voting ‘manipulation' after Israel performance
Eurovision director Martin Green has shared a statement with fans and participating countries of the competition following calls for an audit into its voting system, in response to Israel's near-win this year. Controversy over the country's participation has been rife for the past two years amid its war on Gaza, while its contestants have been the subject of widespread protests. Israel's 2025 delegate Yuval Raphael, a survivor of the 7 October attacks by Hamas, came in second place in the grand final last week, while the competition was won by Austra's singer JJ. Raphael scored a total of 357 points from combined votes of the professional jury and the public. In the wake of the competition, several public broadcasters for countries including Belgium, Spain and Ireland have requested a breakdown of the voting system from Eurovision organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and its voting partner Once. In a statement shared to its website on Friday (23 May), the EBU said it had been listening and engaging 'closely' with the conversations among member countries, fans and the media following the 2025 contest. 'I want to again congratulate the winner JJ and the team from ORF,' Green said. 'His performance and song rightly, clearly and validly won the Contest and we want to make sure any ancillary conversations do not overshadow this epic achievement.' Addressing questions surrounding the Eurovision voting system, Green said that several 'specially designed' systems were in place to monitor and prevent fraud, while more than 60 individuals stationed in Cologne, Vienna and Amsterdam were employed to monitor the voting process in each country. 'All results are verified through an eight-eye principle by the CEO and senior employees of Once, who collectively have over 40 years of voting experience,' he said. He continued to break down the measures that the EBU and Once go to in order to ensure that 'our rules and systems remain fail safe', while acknowledging that audience voting often showed evidence of being influenced by current affairs, geographic affiliations or the back stories of certain contestants. 'Historically the ESC has been as open to this as other singing and music competitions and reality television,' Green said. He added that there was 'no current evidence' to suggest that allowing 20 votes per person – 'designed to ensure that audiences of all ages can vote for more than one of their favourite songs' – disproportionately affected the final result. However, 'the question has been asked and so we will look into it', he said. Katia Segers, a Flemish MP, argued in a statement this week that 'a system in which everyone can cast up to 20 votes is a system that encourages manipulation'. 'Whether this manipulation occurred in our country and all other participating and non-participating countries must be investigated,' she said. Green concluded his statement by once again congratulating JJ and Austrian broadcaster ORF for winning the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest. Next year's competition will take place in the winning country, Austria.
RTÉ News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Eurovision director addresses voting concerns in open letter
Martin Green, the director of the Eurovision Song Contest, has released an open letter following voting concerns surrounding this year's competition. The statement comes amid ongoing debates regarding Israel's promotion of its entry, as well as discussions among several national broadcasters about the current voting system. Earlier this week, RTÉ requested a breakdown in Eurovision voting numbers from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and its voting partner Once. Spain's public broadcaster, Radio Televisión Española (RTVE), previously called for a "complete review" of the voting system to "avoid external interference and manipulation", referencing votes received by Israel in the public vote. In his letter, Martin Green said that Eurovision employs specially developed systems designed to prevent fraudulent voting. He said: "The ESC voting system includes multiple security layers and a comprehensive set of rules to ensure that a valid result is generated. Our voting partner - Once Germany GmbH - uses redundant systems and multiple platforms to ensure the correct delivery of votes to the central system. "For the Eurovision Song Contest, specially designed systems are used to monitor and prevent fraud. Additionally, more than 60 individuals in Cologne and several others in Vienna and Amsterdam monitor the voting process in each country and maintain direct contact with telecommunication and broadcasting partners globally. All results are verified through an 8-eye principle by the CEO and senior employees of Once, who collectively have over 40 years of voting experience." Mr Green explained how "independent compliance monitor EY oversees and authenticates the results". He added: "Every decision related to the outcomes is documented and assessed. The entire process, including the result calculation of the platform and the voting results is thoroughly reviewed and verified by EY. "All audience voting, be it SMS, call or online shows evidence of the motivation of communities or diasporas around certain contestants. This can be for many reasons including personal attributes, back stories, geographic affiliations and current affairs. Historically the ESC has been as open to this as other singing and music competitions and reality television. "Every year the Reference Group for the Contest, which contains representatives from and acts on behalf of our Members, studies the data provided by our voting partner Once to make recommendations of any actions available to us to ensure our rules and systems remain fail safe and take into account contemporary external factors such as advances in technology and external influences. This process will happen as it always does in June this year." Mr Green said what the EBU "will be looking at is the promotion of our acts by their delegations and associated parties" and "want to ensure that such promotion is not disproportionally affecting the natural mobilisation of communities and diasporas we see in all entertainment audience voting". Discussing the existing voting system, which allows each person to cast up to 20 votes, he said that the rules would be reviewed. "Another example is the number of votes we allow per person – 20 per payment method. This is designed to ensure that audiences of all ages can vote for more than one of their favourite songs and there is no current evidence that it disproportionally effects (sic) the final result – but the question has been asked and so we will look at it."
Irish Daily Mirror
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
RTE requests Eurovision vote breakdown as TDs call for audit of vote for Israel
RTÉ has requested a breakdown of voting numbers from last weekend's Eurovision after questions were raised about how many votes Israel received. It follows similar moves by broadcasters in Spain and Belgium. Spain's national broadcaster RTVE and Belgium's national broadcaster VRT called for transparency into the Eurovision voting system. Both Belgium and Spain's televoters awarded Israel 12 points, while the juries gave the country zero points. The Irish televote gave Israel 12 points in the second semi-final and 10 points in the final. The Irish jury, consisting of five industry professionals, gave Israel seven points in the Eurovision grand final. An RTÉ spokesperson confirmed that it had "requested a breakdown in voting numbers from the EBU and its voting partner Once". Referencing a statement from Martin Green CBE, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest, RTÉ added that it looked "forward to participating in the discussions and review outlined within this statement". Mr Green said: "We can confirm that we have been in touch with several broadcasters since Saturday's Grand Final regarding voting in the competition. "Now the event has concluded we will have a broad discussion with participating broadcasters, to reflect and obtain feedback on all aspects of this year's event as part of our planning process for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest next year. "It is important to emphasise that the voting operation for the Eurovision Song Contest is the most advanced in the world and each country's result is checked and verified by a huge team of people to exclude any suspicious or irregular voting patterns. "An independent compliance monitor reviews both jury and public vote data to ensure we have a valid result. "Our voting partner, Once, has confirmed that a valid vote was recorded in all countries participating in this year's Grand Final and in the Rest of the World." In Leinster House on Tuesday morning, People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy stated that there needs to be a "full boycott" of Israel, and this includes Israel being "kicked out" of the competition as it is the "normalisation of a genocidal state". He said that while he did not watch the competition, he was aware of "suspiciously high votes for Israel in a range of countries" and if there were question marks being raised there should be an audit. Labour's George Lawlor, however, said it would be "tokenistic" for Ireland to pull out of the competition next year if Israel does compete. However, he said that the results "seemed very unusual" and that an audit should be conducted if necessary. Rory Hearne of the Social Democrats stated that it should be Israel that does not participate in the Eurovision, rather than Ireland pulling out. He added that an audit of votes would be an "important thing to do".
Irish Independent
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
RTÉ requests breakdown of Eurovision voting numbers amid questions over public televote results
Breaking | The Spanish public broadcaster has also called for an audit after surge in televotes RTÉ has requested a breakdown in Eurovision voting numbers from the European Broadcasting Union, and its voting partner Once. This comes after RTVE, Spain's public broadcaster, called for an audit after there was a surge in audience votes for Israel. VRT, the Flemish public broadcasting company also publicly raised concerns over the voting process. The Irish televote awarded Israel 10 points, while the jury awarded their entrant, Yuval Raphael, and her song New Day Will Rise, seven points. A spokesperson for RTÉ said: "RTÉ has requested a breakdown in voting numbers from the EBU and its voting partner Once'. "RTÉ looks forward to participating in the discussions and review' of the 69th Song Contest that takes place after Eurovision. Belgium and Spain's televoters both awarded Israel 12 points, while the juries gave the country zero points. The Spanish broadcaster RTVE also showed a title card in support of Palestine during the broadcast of the grand final. Israel came second in the Grand Final on Saturday night with Austrian entrant JJ winning the overall contest with his operatic techno song Wasted Love. On Tuesday, a number of opposition TDs called RTÉ to review the votes. People Before Profit TD, Paul Murphy, said it is an 'incredible' situation that a 'genocidal state' is being normalised. 'It has everything to do with politics and by Ireland participating, we are legitimising this normalisation effort. We think there needs to be a full boycott of Israel,' he said. 'I am aware there is suspiciously high votes for Israel in a range of countries. 'There should be an audit of the public votes,' he said. Social Democrats TD, Rory Hearne, also said Israel should be banned, like Russia has been, from the next Eurovision. A spokesperson for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said it took complaints seriously and would continue to engage with participating broadcasters. An EBU statement said: 'We can confirm that we have been in touch with RTVE and several other broadcasters since Saturday's grand final regarding voting in the competition. Now the event has concluded we will have a broad discussion with participating broadcasters, to reflect and obtain feedback on all aspects of this year's event as part of our planning process for the 70th Eurovision Song Contest next year. 'Our voting partner Once has confirmed that a valid vote was recorded in all countries participating in this year's grand final and in the rest of the World.' In response, RTÉ said it 'looks forward to participating in the discussions and review outlined within this statement.' Ireland did not make it to the final this year and this was reflected in the Irish viewing figures. The final was watched by an average audience of 268,000 and had a 30pc share of viewers. The previous year when Ireland came sixth in the final an average of 666,000 viewers tuned into RTÉ One. In 2023, the average viewing figures were 362,000. Israel came second in this year's contest. Its entrant Yuval Raphael is a survivor of the Hamas massacre at the Nova music festival on October 7. She escaped death by hiding under the bodies of others. During her performance, two protesters attempted to rush the stage in the arena but were stopped by security. In Basel there were protests over Israel's participation but these were on a far smaller scale than those held in Malmo the previous year at the 68th song contest. Spain's entry, Esa Diva by Melody, finished in 24th place on Saturday night while Belgium did not qualify for the final. Next year, the 70th anniversary of the Eurovision will be held in Austria.
