Voting in the Eurovision Song Contest

Abstract

The Eurovision Song Contest is not only the largest song contest worldwide but also probably the world’s largest election for a non-political office. In this article, we are interested in the voting behaviour of Eurovision viewers. Do they vote sincerely, strategically according to rational choice assumptions (i.e. for the song they believe will be the likely winner) or for another song? Using data from a large-scale survey carried out in Europe, we find interesting voting patterns with regard to these questions. Roughly one-fourth of the survey participants would vote for either their preferred song or for the song they think will win. However, the percentage of strategic voters is lower (11%). In contrast, many individuals (i.e. 36% of participants) would vote for another song, one that is neither their preferred song, the likely winner, nor a rational choice. The reasoning behind these remaining votes may include neighbourhood voting, ethnic voting, and voting for one’s favourite European country.

Towards a theory of participatory diplomacy via the Eurovision Song Contest

“…Collectively, these 'other' voters constituted 37% of the respondents, while sincere and bandwagon voters were 26% each and strategic voters comprised the minority at 11%. Stockemer et al (2018) conclude that Eurovision voters are influenced by affective factors other than musical preference. While the sample is limited, it nevertheless demonstrates the potential and the need for further studies into the meaning audiences themselves assign to their votes.…”

“…However, the majority of these studies rely on a quantitative analysis of voting results; although they remain useful for identifying broad patterns, these do not provide qualitative insight into whether the actual voting decisions of viewers align with the theories of cultural and political proximity that emerge from these studies. Stockemer et al’s (2018) survey of Eurovision viewers’ voting behaviours is a welcome exception to this literature. Based on a survey of 500 Eurovision viewers in Germany, France and the UK, the study identifies four types of voting: sincere voting, where a person simply votes for their favourite song; strategic voting (voting for their preferred entry among the handful of likely winners rather than a personal favourite); bandwagoning (voting for the expected winner regardless of personal preference); and ‘other’ voters who do not fit into the previous three types, but may use other reasons, such as language affinity, ethnic or diaspora voting or neighbourhood/proximity voting.…”

Understanding Eurovision tele-voting through modelling

“…Such an improved model is likely to give a better fit to the data and to give even higher estimates of the amount of expatriate voting. Stockemer et al (2018) suggest that 36% of tele-voters may be engaging in expatriate voting, or regional voting, or preferences for specific countries. This is in line with our experimental results, and can generate large scores for otherwise unpopular songs.…”

From Eurovision to Asiavision: the Eurovision Asia Song Contest and negotiation of Australia’s cultural identities

“…Patterns in audience votes in Eurovision have been widely studied. It is often seen as being influenced by ‘bloc voting’ or ‘buddy voting’, reflecting geo-political affiliations and regional clusters (Bjornberg, 2007: 17; Stockemer et al, 2018). Other studies have found that voting is also linked to the quality of the participants as well as linguistic and cultural proximities between singers and voting countries (Ginsburgh and Noury, 2008).…”