Junior Eurovision Junior Eurovision 2022

Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022: Facts and Figures

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 has come to an end with the victory of Lissandro representing France with the song “Oh Maman! This edition held in the Armenian capital of Yerevan has left us with several curious facts and records worth remembering.

This year Junior Eurovision has taken place in Armenia due to Malena ‘s victory in the last edition. However, it is not the first time that the contest has taken place in the Caucasian country. This is the second time that Junior Eurovision is held at the Karen Demirchyan Complex located in Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. The 2011 edition was also held here

RECORD NUMBER OF WINNERS TOGETHER

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary, the EBU wanted all the winners in the history of the contest to perform together in the final. However, their dreams were dashed for various reasons. Among them was the pregnancy of Maria Isabel, winner of Junior Eurovision 2004, or the controversy with the Tolmachovy sisters, winners of Junior Eurovision 2004 representing Russia.

It is worth noting that only one country has participated in all editions so far. The Netherlands has been present at every single Junior Eurovision. However, it has only managed to win once. Ralf with the song“Click Clack” won Junior Eurovision 2009. However, despite winning only once, the Netherlands has organised two festivals. The 2007 and 2012 editions took place on Dutch soil

Belarus has participated in all editions until 2020. In 2021 the Belarusian public broadcaster was suspended from the EBU for breaching senior festival rules, jeopardising freedom of expression and for homophobic comments towards the adult festival. Like BTRC, the Russian public broadcaster is suspended from the EBU for various political reasons, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the lack of freedom of expression in the country. The last Russian participation in Junior Eurovision was in the last edition.

THE UNITED KINGDOM’S COMEBACK

The UK’s relationship with Junior Eurovision is also curious. The UK is one of the founding countries. Their participation is limited to the years between 2003 and 2005. In those editions they achieved second and third place. However, they withdrew due to low ratings. This year, however, the UK is back in the competition with Freya Skye and the song “Lose my mind”.

During the years that the UK has been absent from the competition, Welsh broadcaster S4C has shown interest in participating in the festival. It finally made its debut at the children’s festival in 2018 on the premise of spreading the Welsh language. Welsh participation in Junior Eurovision is limited to 2018 and 2019, where they did not achieve great results. On the other hand, Scottish broadcaster BBC Alba stated that it was in negotiations with the EBU for Scotland to debut at Junior Eurovision 2020. However, Scotland has not participated in any Junior Eurovision. This year, due to the UK’s return to the competition, neither Wales nor Scotland have had the opportunity to participate.

THE ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI PROBLEMS

Azerbaijan’s relationship with Junior Eurovision 2022 is also noteworthy. The Azeri public broadcaster ictimai declared throughout the summer of 2022 its intentions to participate in this edition. However, Azerbaijan was not on the list of participants published by the EBU. This is because Armenia and Azerbaijan have not yet signed a peace treaty over the Nagorno-Karabakh war, which escalated in 2020. The Nagorno-Karabakh war is still raging today and Azerbaijan’s participation was not feasible. The EBU determined that it was not possible to guarantee the safety of the Azerbaijani delegation.

THE RESULTS ACHIEVED THIS YEAR

This year’s winner was Lissandro representing France. However, this is not the first time that France has won Junior Eurovision. In the last three years they have won twice. They won for the first time in the 2020 edition with Valentina. Moreover, the lowest position they have achieved since their return in 2018 is a fifth place.

On the other hand, there are two countries that have achieved their best ever positions at the festival. On the one hand, Ireland finished in fourth place, their best position in a Eurovision Song Contest, both senior and junior, since 1997. On the other hand, Portugal finished in eighth place, their best-ever finish in the contest, previously their best position was tenth place in last year’s edition.

https://youtu.be/P4oMG2EKF8Q

However, it was not all good news. Kazakhstan finished second last, their worst-ever result since their debut in 2018.

Hosts Armenia, meanwhile, finished second. This is the fifth time the Caucasian country has finished in this position in the table, holding the record number of silver medals at the event. Malta, on the other hand, finished in last place, the third time they have done so and equalling North Macedonia’s record last-place finish.

TheUK, on its comeback, managed to win the online vote, while Spain took second place, the third time in four years that the country has managed to climb to second place in the popular vote. It is also important to talk about Albania, because although they finished in 12th place, this is the country’s second best result in the history of their participation in the contest. Their best result was fifth place in 2015. North Macedonia receives one of its worst positions this year (14th place).

https://youtu.be/6X1AdVzMiUQ

CURIOSITIES OF THE AUDIENCE RATINGS

This edition has been more watched in Spain than the previous edition. Around 1,183,000 Spaniards followed the festival, i.e. a 10.1% share. More than 5.1 million viewers watched at least one minute of the event, especially in the 13-24 age group. For its part, RTVE’s hastag was the world’s top TT.

Germany did not participate in this edition, but did broadcast the festival on its children’s channel KiKa. The broadcast of the festival in Germany had 170,000 viewers.

On the other hand, the growth of the festival’s audience in Italy is also noteworthy. This year was the first time that Junior Eurovision was broadcast on RAI’s main channel, in addition to the children’s channel. A total of 1,523,00 Italians watched the festival on RAI1, while 15,112 watched it on the children’s channel RAI gulp.

In the case of the winning country, France, the festival had an audience share of 8.9% and a total of 1,110,000 viewers. However, at the time of Lissandro’s victory, more than 1.8 million French viewers were watching their country take first place in the children’s competition.

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