Eurovision 2015 – At a press conference on Tuesday ORF Director-General Alexander Wrabetz, the Viennese mayor Michael Häupl and City councillor Christian Oxonitsch revealed facts and figures about this year’s contest, including the fact that the Viennese tourist project did not overspend. The budget for the City of Vienna had been 8.89 million euros and it revealed that it still had 800,000 euros left in the bank and was delighted with a successful campaign to promote the city. ORF’s budget was 15 million euro and it also says it did not overspend (unlike Denmark last year who went 10 million euros over budget). The city estimated that the contest brought 27.8 million euros into Vienna.
Other facts that were released…
101,173 people attended 12 shows in the Stadthalle. All finals were 100% sold out. Overall the shows were 87% full.
An estimated 120,000 people attended the Eurovillage with 25,000 on the final night alone. 7,200 attended the Euroclub.
The green event saw 50,000 cups re-used rather than thrown away.
1565 press and 1269 delegates were accredited. Their satisfaction rating was high at 1.6 (1 being the highest).
Early indications for TV viewing suggests that 200 million viewers watched at some point the 45 countries that aired the contest. The highest, as usual was Iceland with 95%! It was 85% in Sweden.
According to a survey commissioned by the ORF the Austrians were certainly enthusiastic too: 88% stated that the ESC was a good opportunity to present Austria in the world. 75% were proud of the country as host. 94% of respondents said that they followed reports and broadcasts of the Song Contest. Austrian viewing figures were 2 million for the final, greatly increased from 1.47 million last year.
The Eurovision Times 
Awesome congratulations to Austria on staying in budget and putting on a great show. I won’t say fantastic because I feel Sweden and Denmark put on much better ones, but overall it was very good and Austrian’s should feel proud.
197 million people watched esc 2015. http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=nearly_200_million_people_watch_eurovision_2015
In general,Vienna underperformed.I don’t know if i’m harsh.It wasn’t bad but there were some issues here and there that may have put viewers off.The 3 hosts were extremely underwhelming(especially compared to the 3 great Copenhagen hosts,the interval acts were nothing to write home about,the postcards either.Thank God,there was also Conchita to save face.At least,everything worked well at the final and i enjoyed it. :)
Everything worked well in the final ? Missing 3 satellite connections during voting (Portugal, Estonia and Georgia) must be a new record..
I know about that but i was referring more to the first part of the performances rather than the voting part.The hosts were again cold failing to interact with the spokepersons but at that point i was anxious and more interested in the results so i tried to not pay attention to them.The technical glitches were indeed embarrassing.
Well, I agree that the three hosts were all very lame (can’t remember a single thing they said). The interval acts went from irrelevant to downright embarrassing (the pets), and the introduction of each semi took a lifetime with all these parades across the arena.
But…
I must say I liked the postcards. :$
I found them sweet, cosy and I actually think they felt sincere too. They let us see the artists in an everyday way that also felt more natural and clear, more than what they have done the last years. So yeah, ORF got at least one thing right methinks. :P
they were ok but lame
I liked the postcards as well. I wish they were a tad longer though.
I wonder what Sweden will come up with next year. I wouldnt mind a return from Linda tbh.
Well, since we are heading towards Gothenburg ( ;) ), I think they should do something like what they did the last time ESC was held in Gothenburg: give the songwriters some credit! Even if the postcards were too long (unlike this year’s, I agree with you) and didn’t show Gothenburg from its best side – it looks terribly cold there – they gave the actual contestants a face.
Or not, of course that will never happen. :(
But Lynda Woodruff will certainly be back. She’s like the new Eurovision mascot. ;)
I love the Vienna postcards too. They were the best since Belgrade imo. :)
Wow, color me surprised. It felt like they were doing a lot for ESC and I was sure they’d at least be a little over budget, but nope. Good work, team!
As for the show, I guess I haven’t given it any sort of commentary yet. ;) The hall was fantastic, very atmospheric and open. Sure, the “magic bridge” was a dumb gimmick that wasn’t worth all the hassle it created (there was a dash for getting a standing spot at the barrier when it closed and you got violently shoved out of the way when they reopened it), but at least the dancers on it were kinda nice.
Visually, I liked how well the theme graphics were brought though in the stage and in all the quick videos. As for the titles, having the hashtag was them *finally* doing something that should’ve been done all the way back in 2013, so I was thrilled to see that. Granted, I’m not sure that having them right next to the country name was the best solution, but knowing how different broadcasters have their logos in every corner of the screen except the bottom left, I understand why they did that. Having the country name and flag stuck off to the side in tiny font was an interesting call and it certainly shifted the focus toward the songs, but I’m not sure that’s the most appropriate way to treat that information. It is an international contest, after all. For the most part, though, all the theme graphics felt a little heavy-handed, and at times that was nice but at others, like in the “adverts” that the postcards turned out to be, it was a bit much. Talking of, I enjoyed the postcards! It was nice to see the artists interacting with the host country after two years of them just doing things at home. It finally concluded the idea Sweden introduced in 2013 and amplified its effect to a pleasant degree.
The hosts are the only aspect I can remember commenting on, and, to their credit, I think they got better with every show. Sadly, Vienna won’t be remembered for their efforts (or many many other things). Conchita really did steal the show every time she was on camera, and that was fine by me.
Overall, Vienna 2015 sucked in many ways, but its organization was its best asset, imo. The city seemed thrilled to be hosting the contest and did everything it could to make it an incredible experience for the fans.
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