Eurovision viewership declines sharply amid boycott over Gaza war

The Eurovision Song Contest has faced a sharp decline in viewership as the first semi-finals were broadcast on Tuesday, as calls to boycott the competition grew over Israel’s participation.

When comparing viewership from 2025, there was a loss of hundreds of thousands of viewers, despite many countries having a direct stake in the semi-final.

Figures from Eurovisionfun, a news site for all things related to the competition, revealed that audience numbers had declined in Italy, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Belgium and Portugal.

The UK had record low viewers on BBC One for a semi-final since the BBC removed the broadcast from its digital channels to its flagship channel. The figure is down by 253,000 compared to last year.

In Italy, the broadcast on Rai 2 amassed 1,856,000 views, marking a sharp decline from last year's 2,489,000 and the lowest interest for the semi-final in three years for the country.

Despite having a local entry and making the finals, Sweden’s viewership dropped by 316,000 to only 1,149,000, which is also the lowest figure since 2023. Belgium, also in the finals, saw "the most dramatic" decline, with only a combined virtual audience of 750,707, down by over 400,000 viewers compared to 2025.

The drop in figures comes as calls to boycott Eurovision grow as Israel continues its attacks after the genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed over 72,000 people since October 2023.

Despite repeated calls for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to bar Israel from the competition, as they did with Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, the organisation has refused to accept this claiming that this is because it is "politically neutral".

Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Iceland all withdrew from the competition over Israel's war on Gaza, marking the biggest-ever political boycott.

Ireland's public RTE broadcaster decided to show an episode of classic comedy Father Ted instead of the troubled song contest.

Tuesday’s semi-finals saw audience members waving Palestine flags, booing Israeli singer Noam Bettan during his performance and chanting "free, free Palestine". Israel has advanced to Saturday’s finals.