Almost a million Aussies tune in for Eurovision final

The presence of Jessica Mauboy at the grand final of the Eurovision song contest saw a peak of 927,000 (metro and regional) Australians tune in to SBS for the broadcast.

Metro numbers, of 476,000, however, were down from last year’s 595,000. The semi-final broadcast drew a peak of 881,000 regional and metro viewers.

Tony Iffland, head of SBS TV, says, “SBS continues to deliver and lead the way in multi-platform event viewing, maximising coverage of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest through TV, radio, online and live social media integration.”

The broadcast, from Copenhagen, drew a peak of 1000 tweets per minute in Australia. Globally there were 5.3 million tweets with a TV audience of 180 million.

With an estimated worldwide audience of 180 million, the broadcast also provided Mauboy with her largest international exposure to date. She co-wrote Sea Of Flags – the song she performed – with Ilan Kidron from The Potbelleez and producer Stu Crichton, with the single going on sale directly after the broadcast.

Her performance marked the first time a solo artist from a non-European Union country has been invited to perform.