A few hours ago the Armenian government confirmed that Yerevan will host the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex.
During a meeting of the Armenian government cabinet, which took place on 17 February, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2022 will be held at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex. The Prime Minister added that the government has allocated funds to the venue to prepare for the event.
“These events are a good opportunity for our tourism businesses to become more active in the post-Covid period and to restore tourism flows.”
Nikol Pashinyan
The Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex already hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2011. The venue can accommodate between 6,000 and 8,000 people for large concerts. Preparations for the contest are in full swing and the European Broadcasting Union and AMPTV met last week to discuss the contest.
The Karen Demirchyan Concert and Sports Complex also known as the Demirchyan Arena or simply Hamalir (from the Armenian, “Complex”), is an indoor stadium located in Yerevan, Armenia. It was opened in 1983 and hosts concerts, sports competitions and major events. It is located on Tsitsernakaberd Hill, near the Hrazdan River in western Yerevan, and just a few metres from the monument dedicated to the victims of the Armenian genocide.
The structure evokes the shape of a bird spreading its wings. Designed as a multi-purpose indoor arena, it consists of a large pavilion with a minimum seating capacity of 6000, a concert hall (1900 seats) and a sports hall (2000 seats). The larger venue has a rotating grandstand, connected to the smaller pavilions, which allows the maximum capacity to be increased to 8000 spectators.
The facility was inaugurated on 31 October 1983, during the time of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, for the purpose of hosting mass events in Yerevan. In 1985, it suffered a serious fire that forced it to be closed for two years, until it reopened at the end of 1987. Armenian architects were responsible for the entire process.
After Armenia’s independence, the site remained in state hands for some time. After the assassination in 1999 of Karen Demirchyan, leader of the Armenian SSR during the inauguration, it was renamed the “Karen Demirchyan Complex”. Among the most important events it has hosted are concerts by international bands, the 1996 Chess Olympiad and the 2011 Junior Eurovision Song Contest.
the event of the YEAR
Two months after Malena’s victory,the Junior Eurovision machine is back in motion and work has already begun to make the 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest an unforgettable and unprecedented spectacle
“We are here to start preparing this great show with the Armenian TV team. Usually, we start preparations much later, but as we have a new strategy and big plans, we want to start this year as early as possible, to make this competition the best in its history.”
Gert Kark (European Broadcasting Union)
The nature of the delegates’ first visit is very important. The EBU comes to the host country to team up, to discuss the scale of the programme and to help the organising broadcaster with any logistical problems that may arise.
The organisation stresses that in the last 5 or 6 years the contest has become a major international TV event. The guests visited the possible locations where the contest could be held, familiarised themselves with its opportunities. The creative problems of the contest will be discussed later
Working with the Armenian teams during Eurovision and Junior Eurovision, I am 100% sure that we will be able to have a great show, a great week for the participating delegations. Because your team has a lot of experience in organising such shows.
Gert Kark (European Broadcasting Union)
Junior Eurovision has grown year by year in terms of participants and fans, almost matching the complexity and volume of the adult Eurovision , and has become a major event for both the host city and the country.
“Junior Eurovision is not just a TV project, it’s a big event for both the city and the country. So, in addition to the programme, there will be a number of other on-air events to be planned, preparations in the public sector started immediately after our victory. This year, however, the work has entered a more practical phase”
David Tserunyan (Head of the Armenian Delegation)
junior eurovision again in december
Junior Eurovision 2022 will take place, ARMTV confirms, in December in Yerevan. Several hundred partners and employees will be involved in the organisation of the event, and ARMTV, as the host organisation of Junior Eurovision 2022, has a special role to play. The competition could coincide in timing with the World Cup in Qatar, which takes place from 21 November to 18 December 2022, causing problems on the basis of conflicts over TV rights.
It is very important for us to start the organisational work as soon as possible so that we can organise it properly. This will be a very big and very powerful experience for us, it will open up opportunities for us to organise bigger events. The programme has more than 30 million viewers, at least 18 delegations and several guest countries will participate. This is a great opportunity to represent our country in the best way
It was very important that the President of the European Broadcasting Union underlined that this is the 20th anniversary of Junior Eurovision, it will be a much bigger and different contest from the others.
Hovhannes Movsisyan (Executive Director of Public Television)
In addition to presenting Armenia to European viewers, there will be a separate programme for delegations arriving in our country, and Armenia will be presented to up to several hundred guests. The public team was invited to Italy to exchange experiences in order to follow the whole process of organisation and implementation of the Eurovision Song Contest for adults, to study as the host of Junior Eurovision.
RECORD-BREAKING CONTEST
The 19th Junior Eurovision Song Contest, broadcast on Sunday 19 December, reached a total of 33 million viewers in 14 measured markets, with the programme recording its highest average viewing share (15.6%) since 2011.
4.5 million unique viewers also watched content about the event, including the live show, on the Contest’s YouTube channel
An average television audience of 7.5 million watched the 2021 competition spectacular in which 19 countries took to the stage at La Seine Musicale in Paris in a Christmas-themed spectacular presented by France Télévisions.
France TV, The hosts achieved the second largest audience with 1.6 million tuning in to France 2, a year-on-year increase of 400,000 viewers
Poland averaged the highest TV audience for the third year in a row, as 2.8 million watched their representative, Sara James finish second in the competition. JESC 2021 attracted 4 times more viewers than usual in the same slot on the 3 TVP channels on which it was broadcast.
Overall, 11 of the 14 registered markets saw larger audiences than their broadcaster normally receives in that slot.
In the winning country, Armenia, it recorded a 43% share on the evening of 19 December on AMPTV, which will host the 20th Junior Eurovision Song Contest in December this year.
Iceland, which did not participate but broadcast the competition for the first time, recorded a 96% share.