Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest
| Australia | |
|---|---|
|
| |
| Member station | SBS |
| National selection events | Internal selection |
| Appearances | |
| First appearance | 2015 |
| External links | |
| SBS page | |
| Australia's page at Eurovision.tv | |
Australia will participate at the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, Austria. Australia's participation in the Eurovision will be a one-off event; however, if Australia wins, it will be able to return for the 2016 contest, which would then be co-organized by SBS in a European host city. Australia is the first country from the Oceania region to participate in the contest.
History and non-participation
Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) first broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in 1983 and has continued to do so every year since. Eurovision has always attracted a large amount of viewers and popularity in Australia, primarily because of the country's strong political and cultural ties with Europe.
In 2006 SBS aired the United Kingdom's broadcast, including commentary from BBC presenters Paddy O'Connell and Terry Wogan. An estimated 462,000 Australians tuned in to watch the 2006 Grand Final, making it the 21st most watched show in the 2005/06 financial year.[1] SBS once again broadcast the contest in 2007 with commentary provided from the United Kingdom.[2] The 2007 Grand Final attracted 436,000 viewers, making the contest the 20th most watched show in the 2006/07 financial year.[3]
2008 was the first year that Australian broadcaster SBS selected an Australian commentator for the contest. Julia Zemiro has offered commentary for the contest every year since.[4] The Semi-Finals and Grand Final were broadcast between 23 and 25 May: 272,000 viewers tuned in for the first Semi-Final, 421,000 for the second and 427,000 for the Grand Final.[5] Sam Pang has joined Zemiro in providing commentary for Australia since 2009.[6]
SBS have broadcast every edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest since 2009 and the Eurovision Dance Contest in 2008.[7]
From 2010, SBS has allowed Australian viewers to participate in their own televote for the Grand Finals.[8] However, these votes are not counted at the actual contest and do not affect the overall result. The SBS commentary team and Australian delegation were awarded a commentary booth of their own at the 2012 contest in Baku. They have been allocated a commentary booth every year since.
Participation
2014
On 24 March 2014, the Danish broadcaster DR gave permission to SBS to perform as an interval act in the second semi-final of Eurovision Song Contest 2014. One day later, on 25 March, Jessica Mauboy was internally selected to perform.[9] On 8 May 2014, Mauboy sang her song "Sea of Flags" in the second semi-final.[10]
2015
SBS will make the country's debut at the 2015 Contest with the song "Tonight Again" performed by Guy Sebastian. Although Australia is outside the European Broadcasting Area, the European Broadcasting Union and Austrian host broadcaster ORF decided to permit an Australian entry to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Contest.[11]
Contestants
- Table key
| Year | Artist | Language | Title | Final | Points | Semi | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Guy Sebastian | English | "Tonight Again" | Automatic Finalist (guest country) | |||
Voting history
Since 2010, SBS has conducted its own intenet voting for Australian viewers for the Grand Finals only. Votes are usually counted and announced the next day on the SBS and official Eurovision website.[8][12][13][14][15] For the 2015 contest, Australia's televotes will be counted and combined with a national jury made up of music experts to count as Australia's official votes at the Eurovision Song Contest.[16]
2010–2014
Between 2010 and 2014, Australia's internet voting conducted by SBS (which have no effect on the actual contests results) would have awarded the most points - using the Eurovision system - to the following countries:
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2015
Australia will officially vote for the first time at the 2015 Contest.
Commentators and spokespersons
| Year(s) | Grand final & semi-finals television commentator(s) | Results spokesperson |
|---|---|---|
| No commentary from 1983–2000 | Australia not allowed to compete | |
| 2001 | Effie / Mary Coustas [17] | |
| Commentary via BBC in 2002 | ||
| 2003 | Des Mangan[18][17] | |
| 2004 | ||
| Commentary via BBC from 2005–2008 | ||
| 2009 | Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang | |
| 2010 | ||
| 2011 | ||
| 2012 | ||
| 2013 | ||
| 2014 | ||
| 2015 | TBA | |
See also
References
- ↑ http://www20.sbs.com.au/sbscorporate/media/documents/842201_tv_and_online.pdf
- ↑ Eurovision to be aired in Australia 1 April 2007, ESCtoday.com
- ↑ http://www20.sbs.com.au/sbscorporate/media/documents/1824sbs_ar067_section1.pdf
- ↑ Nicholson, Sarah (2008-05-21). "Top of the Euro pops". Courier Mail (news.com.au). Retrieved 2008-05-26.
- ↑ "The Who We Are update: week 24". smh.com.au. 2008-05-26. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
- ↑ Knox, David (2009-04-16). "Airdate: Eurovision 2009". TV Tonight. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
- ↑ "SBS Schedule 13 May 2009". SBS.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Australian televoters choose their winner". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ↑ Storvik-Green, Simon (25 March 2014). "Australian superstar to sing at Eurovision". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ↑ Vincent, Peter (9 May 2014). "Jessica Mauboy performs at Eurovision Song Contest". smh.com.au. The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ↑ "Australia participate in the 60th Eurovision". Eurovision.tv. EBU. 10 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ↑ "Australia has voted, and the winner is....". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ↑ "Australian televoters agree with 2012 result". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ↑ "Australia Votes for Denmark!". The Eurovision Times. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ↑ William Lee Adams. "Eurovision voting: Australia backs Conchita Wurst, China Sanna Nielsen". Eurovision 2015 Predictions, Polls, Odds, Rankings - wiwibloggs. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ↑ "Australia to compete in the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 "The special relationship: Australia and its love of Eurovision". ESC Insight - Home of the Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast.
- ↑ "Eurovision scandal - SBS dumps Wogan! - inthemix Forums". inthemix.com.au.
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