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First semi wins
Finland: ratings tumble for the Eurovision final
The ratings for the Eurovision Song Contest final took an expected dip after Finland failed to qualify from the first semi-final. 748 000 on average watched the Tuesday show, where Finland’s Kuunkuiskaajat sang their Työlki ellää and placed 11th. The final was then watched by only 625 000 on average. The lowest ratings were however for the second semi-final, on average only 321 000 watched. The first semi-final was the most watched program on YLE TV2 and 4th most watched in total. The final was the week’s number 19 and the second semi-final got only position 98. The population used for the statistics by Finnpanel is 4 720 000, or all those 10 years of age and over in Finland.
These figures are the lowest since 2005, when Finland was not in the final. The ratings seem to directly reflect the country's success in the Eurovision Song Contest.
2000: 1 076 000
2001: 385 000 (Finland relegated)
2002: 1 276 000
2003: 602 000 (Finland relegated)
2004: Semi-final 889 000, final 549 000 (Finland did not qualify)
2005: Semi-final 557 000, final less than 400 000 (Finland did not qualify)
2006: Semi-final 1 300 000, final ca 1 600 000 (Finland wins both semi-final and final)
2007 (Helsinki): Semi-final 872 000, final 1 905 000 or 83 %
2008: Semi-finals less than 640 000 (not in top 20), final 1 208 000 or 70 %
2009: Semi-final 1: 817 000 or 17 %, semi-final 2: 472 000 or 10 %, final 1 324 000 or 76 %
2010: Semi-final 1: 748 000, semi-final 2: 321 000, final 625 000 viewers (Finland did not qualify)
Related polls
- Norway: Vote for your favourite song in the final of Melodi Grand Prix
- Azerbaijan: Vote for your favourite act in the final of Milli Seçim Turu
- Hungary: Vote for your favourite act in the final of A Dal
- Iceland: Vote for your favourite song in the final of Songvakeppni Sjonvarpsins
- Malta: Vote for your favourite act in the final of Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012
- Hungary: Vote for your favourite act in the second semifinal of A Dal
- Norway: Vote for your favourite song in the third semifinal of Melodi Grand Prix
- Sweden: Vote for your favourite act in the first semifinal of Melodifestivalen
- Malta: Vote for your favourite act in the semifinal of Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012
- Bulgaria: Vote for your favourite act in the Bulgarian national final 2012
- Latvia: Vote for your favourite act in the final of Eirodziesma 2012
- Belarus: Vote for your favourite act in the final of EuroFest 2012
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Cruel and unfair? Yeah, probably. That would be the fun of it.
Or they could announce it before the show, therefore no surprises.
With this idea, I am joking..... I think.
To Eurovisionary
Do you not think that would be a bit unfair, and cruel to the professional artists concerned. Also mentaly and emotionaly they would probably not ne prepared. It would give yet another advantage to the big 4. They don't need it and certinaly don't deserve it.
To Sam Sengelow
Imagine if you had to qualify honestly the same as everyone else. Your ratings would probably plumet to 2 million. It would reveal the true level of interest in the ESC.
Re Finland
I enjoyed the song. I obviously didn't understand a word of it but it seemed like fun.
oh gosh! awful raitings . in turkey 10 000 000 million people watch it. (at least) i know turkish population is more than finnish population. but i cannot believe that. dissappoint finland!
Maybe the solution is not to announce the qualifers from the semi-finals immediately. Everyone arrives for the final on Saturday. During the final, there's twenty vacant slots. Behind the scenes, the 20 qualifying songs from the semis are slotted in randomly. Only when it's time for the slot to perform, the qualifying country is revealed to the public. Imagine all the surprises.
I was writing that as a joke. Now that I've finished, I'm beginning to like the idea. 
I think what's happened in Finland is similar to what is happening in the UK - less viewers saw the Final in Finland maybe because they may have decided that it wasn't worth it as there was no national interest to represent them or they may have been unhappy that Finland didn't qualify.
Over the last 30 years or so in the UK, Eurovision audiences in the UK have fallen from around 15-20 million to 6 million today. That maybe due to a changing society, as much as some people in the UK not being prepared to support the country because they have received bad results.
This level of audience is bad for the UK, but I suspect that if and when the UK wins this contest again, then audiences will come back again, because that's how fickle some so-called "fans" are.
To do this however, both the UK and Finland need a quality song next year that gives people confidence.
Well, this was only expected, so I don't know what the news is here 
And I'm sure this is the case in all countries...
I don't understand this mentality at all. Even if your country is in the final, they are only there for 3 minutes out of 3 hours of the telecast.
Maybe the general dip in ratings is due to the late scheduling. For Serbia, it was about May 6. This year almost into June. Maybe everyone stayed out with the warmer weather and longer light.
In other words they only have interest as long as they're in it. I will never understand this way of thinking. People are so nationalistic. If you are sitting at home watching TV anyway and even if your country is not in it - it is still the best thing to watch compared to whatever else they watched instead. 
Finland and Slovakia should have qualified instead of horrible Portugal's song who sucked in the final anyway. Moldova and Iceland shouldn' have qualified either.
@Stockholm calling
I agree with you, Finland's entries from 2006-2009 were gr8, but 2010 ...? :/
Russia was originall, but required some brains to get the Nalitch humour and apparently very few had it
Russia did qualify and Finland did not... Fair??!?!? NO WAY!
Low ratings. To be honest, almost all countries had a dip in ratings this year (except Germany). I'm sure 100 million viewers were not achieved this year.
The Finnish entry this year didn't appeal to me, but I really liked their 2006-2009 songs 
i really thought finland would have gottem through the semis but B&H got through first and then I knew a song I liked wouldn't get through
Don't blame them at all!
I agree, Pure Symphony
They should've qualified instead of Russia.
At least Finland entered a SONG.
Only 3 points from qualifying. 
without juries finland would've have qualified hence the ratings would have been much better...
btw, where are the REAL results of eurovision 2010??? WE WANNA KNOW!!!
Girls from Finland sung good and it was a nice and pleasant song . It's a pity they didn't go through
well i think this could happen in all countries if they didnt qualify in the semifinals.
btw finnish song was not my favorite, but i like it though..the girls were cute 
I think 2009 Moscow will for a long time stay as the most hyped and media covered edition of Eurovision. What a great year it was.
And no, I don't favour Moscow over Oslo because of lack of LEDs.
Too many Scandinavians working at EBU ESC!!!!!
Well taling about bock voting -
WHY THE HECK HERE THEY ARE AALL ABOUT SCANDINAVIAN wishful thinking?///
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