ADI Says Eurovision 2017 To Be Biggest Ever (And—Shh—Predicts A Winner)
Make sure you cancel your plans from 9 to 13 May and have control of the TV remote. According to ADI’s “2017 Eurovision Song Contest” report, the competition will be a huge event. Besides, we know the winner.
This year’s Eurovision is set to be even bigger than 2016’s hugely successful competition, with an increase in social sentiment, attention, and even interest in markets beyond the European Broadcasting Union—according to Adobe Digital Insight’s new “2017 Eurovision Song Contest” report.
The report also reveals which competitor has the strongest chance of winning this year, based on ADI’s specifically built Eurovision algorithm.
Bigger Than 2016
Despite a slower start in February 2017—when social mentions were around 55,000 less than in 2016—there has been a big jump in social mentions from February 2017 to March 2017, with 41% month-on-month increase. This was helped by social excitement around Sweden (four-time winner of Eurovision and home of ABBA) opening the first semi-final.
Attention Grabbing
According to ADI and Adobe Advertising Cloud, ad impressions were up 16% on the Saturday of the Eurovision 2016 Finals, compared to the previous Saturday. Looking at the exact time period of the Eurovision final, ADI found that during the four-hour broadcast slot, ad impressions were up 36% week-over-week and completions were up 30% week-over-week (compared to the same day/time the week prior).
U.S. Showing More Interest In 2017
2016 marked the first year that Eurovision was broadcast in the U.S, and the popularity is increasing. The U.S. is in second place when it comes to Eurovision social mentions in 2017. Its 11% share also makes it the most interested country outside of Europe. Due to this increased interest, U.S. premium cable channel Logo TV has picked the broadcast up for a second year.
Good Times
Eurovision brings out the best in people online, at least prior to the competition. The average social sentiment for all 42 contestants is extremely high. On a sliding scale ranging from -5 to 5, social sentiment is an impressively upbeat 4.57.
And The Winner Is …
Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for. ADI has built an algorithm to predict the winner of Eurovision 2017, using total social mentions, YouTube views, increase in plays, unique authors creating content on social, and social sentiment. And this algorithm predicts Belgium’s Blanche to win the Eurovision final. This goes against the bookie’s favourite, Francesco Gabbani from Italy.
It should also be noted that the last three winners all came out of the second semi-final, which this year takes place on 11 May, so keep a close watch on who makes it through.
View the full report below, or click here to view it on Slideshare.