31/05/21
Off-season is here, it’s that time of year! So what on Earth could there possibly be to discuss this week regarding Eurovision?
First of all, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) have now released footage of the back-up performances for 37 of the 2021 Eurovision acts (Ireland and the United Kingdom were not included by their request). This has given us an insight as to what the contest could have looked like had the pandemic gotten further out of control, as well as giving us an indication of how delegations moved their performances forward in the time leading up to the contest. There will be plenty for us to unpack about these both here and on our YouTube channel, so stay tuned.
Another gift the EBU have given us this week is the Eurovision ratings figures. These were an increase from the previous contest (2019) up to now 183 million viewers. Of course how large a ratings success the show was will vary domestically with some broadcasters achieving much larger market shares than others, however I think it is safe to say that amongst the EBU’s top financial contributors ESC once again has proved a relatively cheap investment for a high viewing share. With many countries also reporting high viewing figures, the contest shouldn’t have any issue finding participants either. It is very pleasing to see the contest come back from its absence to ever more love and support – if there ever was any doubt, Eurovision is here to stay for the foreseeable future!
This week also saw various dramas emerge from the 2021 contest, notably the allegations of broadcaster spending mismanagement. Another somewhat regular controversy to emerge was the ever more apparent inconsistencies in the juries voting patterns. Twitter user @euro_bruno has a detailed thread showing these irregularities, which are as widespread as usual. The discrepancies in these votes could imply either the juries are struggling to follow voting procedures, have drastic opinion shifts between shows or have engaged in tactical voting. Opinion shifts is the least plausible explanation in my opinion as with both press and an audience attending the jury shows, it would have been well documented by now if someone had had such a bad performance it could swing multiple juries. The juries also were under scrutiny when it became apparent that a member of the Czech jury did not have Czech citizenship and therefore was seemingly ineligible to be on the jury. This has since been confirmed to have been a known exception the EBU had agreed to but with this not having been made public initially (and much more of the jury information being hidden compared to previous years) caused some confusion and panic amongst fans. Overall these jury issues aren’t too big of a problem but are probably something that could be improved and streamlined to avoid unnecessary controversy in future contests.
Looking ahead – well Eurovision 2021 season is now officially over but do not despair! Speculation for the participating countries in 2022 has already begun (with Andorra being speculated and then pretty much ruled out officially, in a very short span of time). Several cities up and down Italy have placed bids to host the 2022 contest and I am sure the bidding race will be an exciting one to follow. One withdrawal/continued non-participation is already likely for 2022 though with Belarus’s broadcaster being suspended by the EBU. This is in light of Belarussian broadcaster BRTC’s recent behaviour regarding ensuring freedom of journalistic coverage and follows on from them being disqualified from Eurovision 2021 due to the political messages in their proposed entry “I Will Teach You”.
Yes, the months ahead are a lot more empty but with this community and all the love we put into various projects there will be plenty to get involved with, Fan contests are opening submissions again, the official Eurovision YouTube channel has hinted at a return of Eurovision Again (see video description), Eurovision social media is abuzz with new memes (thank you Natalia Gordienko) and new fans have joined the community following this year’s contest.
There’s lots ahead of us, lots to talk about and lots of new and old friends to pass the time with. If you want to start a conversation and as always please feel free to connect with ESC Essence either by commenting here or on our social media pages. Let’s get ready for ESC 2022 together!
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