Eurovision 2012 a success online

Geneva, Switzerland -

Eurovision Song Contest has been more and more successful every year in its online activities, but 2012 was even better than predicted despite some hurdles.

The domain name Eurovision.tv was registered for the 2002 contest in Tallinn, Estonia. So, this year we could celebrate the website's 10th birthday. And it's been a good year.

The website had 100 million page views this season with 17 million visits. Our videos were seen more than 150 million times which was up by more than 80% compared to a year ago.

We also broadcast tens of national selections and other events as well as all the live shows on our Web TV. This year we had 425,000 viewers combined which is over 40% better than in 2012.

For the Grand Final, we had the most viewers from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, and Spain. In total, we had viewers from 186 countries, including the Holy See (Vatican), the Maldives and Liechtenstein.

Problems during the second Semi-Final

However, we did experience some technical problems this year during the week of the live shows. On the day of the second Semi-Final and lasted till some days after the Grand Final the website was under a cyber attack to make it unavailable for our visitors, a so-called DDoS attack.

Our technical team took swift action and deployed the services of CloudFlare and thanks to their support, Eurovision.tv was running smoothly already on the next day.

Thus, the website was never fully offline but some users experienced problems accessing it during the second Semi-Final and shortly after.

"We are very satisfied with the support CloudFlare gave us during this incident and are glad to be part of the CloudFlare network as their Enterprise customer," added Wouter van Vliet, Project Developer Internet at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Trending in social media

Starting from this year, the Eurovision Song Contest is present in six social networks: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, VK, Odnoklassniki as well as our very own EurovisionFamily.tv.

The interest for the contest has boomed the past years in social media and we now have more than a million online fans, which is 2 times (!) more than a year ago.

This also meant that during the weeks of the three shows in May, the contest and its related topics were trending topics all over the web showing the immense interest for Europe's favourite TV show.

Eurovision.tv would like to thank our visitors, fans and of course, our volunteer team for the success of this year. We couldn't have achieved it without being a true Eurovision Family!

Posted on 4/July 2012 at 17:59
Xam Mcmon from Mexico

We watch it online here in Guadalajara, Jalisco. Mexico!!! report to the moderator
Posted on 4/July 2012 at 17:57
Xam Mcmon from Mexico

GreaT we love it!! report to the moderator
Posted on 3/July 2012 at 23:23
FR72536 from Panama

I watched this contest from Panama, My favorite was France. report to the moderator
Posted on 3/July 2012 at 18:18
javialexchan from Canada

I truly believe when it's said this is the most commented edition ever and some of the songs have been aired here in Venezuela, which makes me glad to know some people here are interested in some of these songs.

The fact that there's a pretty substantial fan base here proves Eurovision is no longer a merely European institution and it's so worthy of being shared with the rest of the world.

Thank you, Eurovision.tv, for another fantastic season and may many great ones come along. =) report to the moderator
Posted on 30/June 2012 at 02:05
nprovenghi271 from United States

Congratulations for the great year! This was the first year I was able to watch the contest live, and it was wonderful! Continue your progress and good luck on further improvement! Best Wishes from the United States! report to the moderator
Posted on 29/June 2012 at 14:14
Linus S from Sweden

This website is very nice! :)
You`ve done a lot of good work in the site this year! report to the moderator
Posted on 29/June 2012 at 06:47
MrEurovision from Australia

You've really impressed the past year or so. Before I typically relied on a independent sites, now I can come for latest updates with news and videos. Congrats. report to the moderator
Posted on 29/June 2012 at 06:28
Jupiter from Malaysia

Wow, 186 countries! Just want to say a big, big, thank you to Eurovision.tv for broadcasting the event live in the website, or else I won't be able to watch it where I am right now... And I really love the fact that they integrate the website with all the popular social websites. It really makes my Eurovision experience a whole lot easier!

Anyway, shame to those who committed the cyber attack! (；一_一) report to the moderator
Posted on 29/June 2012 at 04:31
gustavo_lopes1 from Brazil

The tag #Eurovision was the most used in Twitter in Brazil during the exhibition of the semifinals and final. (Brazilian Top Trends). *----* Every year, more Brazilians know about Eurovision, making it very popular here. report to the moderator
Posted on 28/June 2012 at 15:27
A bench a tree a street from United States

I started watching in 2010, and this year there were ten of us in my living room. We hooked up the laptop to the TV screen, cranked the sound, and everybody had a great time! Thank you for a great broadcast.

Next year I hope to be in Sweden for the live show. report to the moderator
Posted on 28/June 2012 at 14:11
Pretellier from Australia

A Great Event , This Year ! Thoroughly enjoyed it ! Baku , Azerbaijan was a beautiful place to hold the Eurovision Contest ! The commentators were nice too ! The level of performance was high in all nations ! I was shocked when San Marino and Georgia didn't make it to the Final ! And surprised when the Babushki nearly won . Amongst my favorites were Engelbert Humperdinck of Britain and Sabina Babayeva of Azerbaijan , as were also Last Years Winners , Nikki & Eldar .
It was too busy on EuroTv here for Australians , but SBS Australia gave very good coverage ! And EuroTv Youtube was perfect backup ! I did't have time for Facebook or Twitter though . report to the moderator
Posted on 28/June 2012 at 13:03
Pete From Canada from Canada

You are definitely starting to gain a good following in Canada! Thanks for the great coverage before, during and after the event! report to the moderator