Eurovision coverage watched by around half-a-million people in Estonia

ERR's broadcasts of last week's Eurovision Song Contest held in Malmö, Sweden, reached half a million Estonian viewers according to researchers.
The grand final gathered the most viewers, with an average of 223,000 people tuning in over more than four hours on Saturday.
All the Eurovision broadcasts were carried by three ERR television channels: ETV, ETV2, and ETV+, the latter being the Russian-language channel.
Commenting on the figures, Karmel Killandi, head of entertainment programming at ERR, said: "The viewership numbers show that our entry has truly touched the hearts of many viewers, something which is incredibly joyful."
"It is a real phenomenon that has conquered not only television but all other platforms as well, in getting people to sing and dance, worldwide," Killandi went on.
The popularity of the grand final was such that nearly 70 percent of all those watching TV on Saturday night had tuned in to watch the Eurovision.
ETV's main broadcast started at 9.35 p.m. ahead of the Europe-wide finals broadcast, presented by Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman,, which started at 10.00 p.m. and lasted till well after 1 a.m. Estonian time.
Nearly half a million people viewed the entire process at some point, from Tuesday and Thursday's semifinals and Saturday's final, research company Kantar Emor reports – defining a watch as being at least 15 minutes continuous viewing either live or via re-watch.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, peak viewing figures were seen on Saturday night when Estonia's entry, 5miinust ja Puuluup, performed, fairly early on in the 26-nation list.
This drew an audience of 250,000, Kantar Emor says.
Overall the grand final was watched by an average of 223,000 people on ETV on Saturday, rising to an average of 234,000 within just a few days thanks to re-watches.
This makes this year's contest one of the most popular of recent years, narrowly trailing the viewership figures seen at the 2022 Eurovision final (when Stefan Airapetjan placed 13th with the song "Hope").
The level of interest and support from Estonian citizens and residents is also evident in the number of votes cast in the public phone-in vote: 8,723 for Thursday's second semifinal, which saw 5Miinust ja Puulup qualify for the grand final. A total of 45,399 votes were cast from Estonia during that final, and for any acts the voter chose.
ETV2's Eurovision with simultaneous sign language attracted an average of 20,000 viewers for the second semi-final, while the Russian-language channel, ETV+, picked up 21,000 viewers on average for both the second semi-final and grand final.
Eurovision reached thousands more through ERR's online portal in Estonian, the Jupiter streaming service (where the final can even be re-watched), and Raadio 2, while 5Miinust ja Puuluup and their adventures in Malmö also featured on "Ringvaade" and "Terevisioon" TV shows, and other radio and online segments.
On the night, 5Miinust ja Puulup performed disappointingly in the jury vote, racking up just four points in total. However, the public vote gave them 33 further points, shifting them upwards from last place to 20th place by the competition's end.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Karmen Rebane