Europe is a melting pot of cultures and societies, making it hard to collate a single identity. However, something that seems to bring the continent together for a night is the Eurovision Song Contest. There is nothing more European than ESC, highlighted by the event’s lack of popularity outside of the EU.

Of course, this makes it easy to generalize and say that every nation is excited about the upcoming 2021 contest. In reality, the popularity of the event throughout Europe fluctuates, and it’s down to a couple of considerable factors.

Previous Success

As British fans know only too well, not every country’s act does well during the competition. Some fair far better, including Ireland, the nation with the most wins in the event’s history. They have seven, which highlights why the Irish tune in to watch year-on-year in their droves.

Ireland isn’t the only entrant with a solid history because France, this year’s Eurovision betting odds 2021 favorite at 11/4, has won it five times. Sweden has six victories, the second most, and their artist’s chances of winning Eurovision 2021 are 33/1, which sounds long, but is actually within the top ten in the betting. It isn’t a coincidence that the nations with the most victories are well backed by punters who expect the trend to continue.

After all, a positive track record in the contest means they are likely to take it more seriously than others, including investing money into the representatives and marketing the show on various media channels.

Millennials Vs Boomers

You can’t underestimate the impact of the demographics of the people who watch TV shows like Eurovision. For example, a study from the UK shows that audiences in Europe are more likely to show support for the contest if they are millennials. Among this age group, 38% of people surveyed showed a positive opinion, compared to 13% for baby boomers.

When you factor this into the countries that treat Eurovision with the most respect within the EU, you’ll find that there is a link between the popularity of ESC and the number of millennials. Germany is a prime example because it has the largest number of millennials in Europe at around 15 million. Greece, on the other hand, only has 2 million.

While they only have two previous wins, the Germans have entered the competition 63 times and have been involved since the contest was created in 1956, along with six other inaugural participants. Germany has the highest viewing rates, too.

The Location

The way the Eurovision Song Contest works is that the winners get the right to host the event the following year. The Netherlands won in 2019, which is why the show will be broadcast live from Rotterdam this time around. Of course, the Dutch will be very excited about the prospect because hosting brings everyone together due to the sense of community spirit.

As mainland Europe is connected, this also means that the likes of Belgium and Germany will feel the after-effect in terms of morale and money. Plus, as France is considered the favorite, the French will be happy that Eurovision is almost on their doorstep. On the flip side, entrants that are nowhere near location-wise and don’t share cultural features often feel excluded.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that Poland, Georgia, Estonia, and many more Eastern European nations are at the bottom of the betting. Poland, for instance, is a 500/1 shot.

Is Eurovision popular throughout Europe? Well, it depends on the individual countries, the location, and the make-up of the audience demographics.

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