Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest
| Australia | |
|---|---|
| Member station | SBS |
| National selection events | Internal selection |
| Appearances | |
| Appearances | 1 |
| First appearance | 2015 |
| Best result | 5th: 2015 |
| Worst result | 5th: 2015 |
| External links | |
| SBS page | |
| Australia's page at Eurovision.tv | |
Australia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, Austria. Australia's participation in that contest was set to be a one-off event, with the caveat that if Australia wins, it would have been able to return in the 2016 contest, which would have been co-organized by SBS in a European host city. Australia is the first country from the Oceania region (and the second country outside of Eurasia overall after Morocco in 1980) to participate in the contest. In the final, Australia finished 5th with a total of 196 points.
Contents
History and non-participation[edit]
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 continued to broadcast the contest in 2007 and 2008 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]
2009 was the first year that Australian broadcaster SBS selected an Australian commentator for the contest. Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang were 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] Zemiro and Pang have provided commentary for Australia since 2009, to mixed reviews from the Australian public.[6]
SBS have broadcast every edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest and the Eurovision Dance Contest 2008 on 6 May 2009.[7] SBS has also broadcast the 50th and 60th anniversary programmes.
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[edit]
2014 interval act[edit]
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 debut[edit]
SBS made 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. The special circumstances surrounding Australia's entry and "to not reduce the chances" of the semi-final participants led the organisers to allow Australia to compete directly in the grand final without pre-qualification.[11]
Future[edit]
Although Australia's participation in 2015 was announced as a one-off event, there has been speculation that a permanent invitation could be offered. In an interview with the Swedish broadcaster, Jon Ola Sand stated that such an invitation would likely be discussed with the EBU.[12] On 7 October 2015, it was announced that Australia would make its debut at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015 after SBS was invited to perform in the contest.[13]
Contestants[edit]
- Table key
| Year | Artist | Language | Title | Final | Points | Semi | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Guy Sebastian | English | "Tonight Again" | 5 | 196 | Automatic Finalist (guest) | |
Voting history[edit]
Since 2010, SBS has conducted its own internet 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][14][15][16][17] 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.[18]
Internet voting[edit]
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:
|
|||||||||||||||||||
Official voting[edit]
Australia officially voted for the first time at the 2015 contest.[19]
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Points %: is the percentage of all points the country could get from the other country.
Commentators and spokespersons[edit]
| Year(s) | Television commentator(s) | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|
| No commentary from 1983–2000 | Australia not allowed to compete | |
| 2001 | Effie (Mary Coustas)[20] | |
| Commentary via BBC in 2002 | ||
| 2003 | Des Mangan[20][21] | |
| 2004 | ||
| Commentary via BBC from 2005–2008 | ||
| 2009 | Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang | |
| 2010 | ||
| 2011 | ||
| 2012 | ||
| 2013 | ||
| 2014 | ||
| 2015 | Lee Lin Chin[22] | |
See also[edit]
- Australia in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
- Australia in the ABU Radio Song Festival
- Australia in the ABU TV Song Festival
References[edit]
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ Waddell, Nathan (21 May 2015). "Australia: Australia may become a solid participant, says JOS". escXtra. Retrieved 21 May 2015.
- ^ Fisher, Luke James (7 October 2015). "Australia joins to make it 'Super 17' at Junior Eurovision in Sofia!". junioreurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 7 October 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.
- ^ "Welcome to the Eurovision Song Contest database". eschome.net. ESC Database. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
- ^ a b "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.
- ^ "Honestly, did you really think anybody else would be up to the task? #TheFeedSBS #SBSEurovision". Twitter. The Feed SBS. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||