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The 70th Eurovision Song Contest drew 131 million television viewers across 35 markets, marking a drop of 35 million from the previous year, according to figures released Friday by the European Broadcasting Union, or EBU.
The 2026 contest, held in Vienna, came after Spain, Slovenia, Ireland, Iceland and the Netherlands withdrew in protest against Israel's participation. The event was won by Bulgaria's DARA with the song "Bangaranga."
The EBU figures showed that Eurovision's television audience fell from 166 million viewers in 2025, when the contest was held in Basel, Switzerland, to 131 million in 2026.
While the overall audience went down, Austria, the host country, recorded its highest-ever Eurovision audience. However, several other markets saw declines, including Poland, the U.K. and France.
Despite the fall in television viewership, Eurovision continued to draw strong attention online.
According to the figures, Eurovision-related content generated more than 2.75 billion views across social media platforms during the 2026 season, showing that digital engagement kept growing even as TV audiences declined.
The contest took place under the shadow of withdrawals by five countries, which pulled out in protest against Israel's participation.
The 70th edition ended with Bulgaria's DARA winning the contest with "Bangaranga," bringing the 2026 competition to a close in Vienna.
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