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EUROVISION 2022 - General Discussion Thread

escYOUnited

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Please post any and all discussions regarding the contest itself, host country and city, organisation, rumours and other topics not related to any specific country's selection process.
 

Gitte

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I was counting the entries I want to qualify in each of the semi-finals (whilst not knowing 2/potentially 3 yet) and am very pissed there aren't 11 - 12 qualifiers in each
 

Lindon

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Someone wrote me that some broadcaster and record labels have budgets to place bets to affect the betting charts. That sounds like the call center stories that keep circulating. I'm assuming this is a conspiracy theory ??
 

ory26

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Intersteing ChiversLookDivine !!
So without Spaniards voting for themselves, like in EurovisionScore, Spain misses out on the top 10, even if only by a few points.
 

ChiversLookDivine

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Intersteing ChiversLookDivine !!
So without Spaniards voting for themselves, like in EurovisionScore, Spain misses out on the top 10, even if only by a few points.

Whilst I accounted for bias and could stop including everyone voting for themselves, I also had a MUCH smaller survey size than EurovisionScore so I wouldn't trust it as being 100% accurate.

I was just bored and wanted to do a flash poll because lots of people were putting up rankings today after all the NF's that finished last night. I know we have a ranking game here but I thought it would be interesting to take results from lots of different places and get some statistics from it.

But yeah, Spain's low score was surprising. Australia also had a surprisingly low score.
 

Ezio

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Someone wrote me that some broadcaster and record labels have budgets to place bets to affect the betting charts. That sounds like the call center stories that keep circulating. I'm assuming this is a conspiracy theory ??
Pretty sure that ORF is not into this rigging game
 

midnightsun

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Someone wrote me that some broadcaster and record labels have budgets to place bets to affect the betting charts. That sounds like the call center stories that keep circulating. I'm assuming this is a conspiracy theory ??
Nope. I‘ve heard the same plus some one on this forum, obviously in the know, confirmed that and other speculations last year.
 

Ezio

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Nope. I‘ve heard the same plus some one on this forum, obviously in the know, confirmed that and other speculations last year.
Malta in the Top 20 is truly a gag. Not sure which other countries are interested in shifting the odds into their favour. Maybe to impress the show producers and change their fate for the running order?
 

midnightsun

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I know (for a fact) that some jury members vote very closely to the betting odds because they think this is what people like and want to listen to. By influencing the odds you‘re influencing the juries to a certain extent, but I‘ve wrote enough about this subject the past years. Let‘s hope they decide wisely this year. The more it is important that we, the televoters, call for our favourites.
 

Ezio

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I know (for a fact) that some jury members vote very closely to the betting odds because they think this is what people like and want to listen to. By influencing the odds you‘re influencing the juries to a certain extent, but I‘ve wrote enough about this subject the past years. Let‘s hope they decide wisely this year. The more it is important that we, the televoters, call for our favourites.
I assume for a fact that Sido was in the German jury 2014 for only one reason....:ROFLMAO:
 

spinachpie

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I love Poland and Switzerland so much this year, but I fear they get lost in the ballad-heavy mould. Same as last year with all the female fuego bops, there of which we have none this year.

None of the female bops last year sounded anything like Fuego though?
 

HayashiM

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Someone wrote me that some broadcaster and record labels have budgets to place bets to affect the betting charts. That sounds like the call center stories that keep circulating. I'm assuming this is a conspiracy theory ??
With a very big probability, it's a conspiracy theory - and even if someone might try, it doesn't yet mean it actually works ;) Sure, the juries might base their votes on the odds, but it is very difficult to influence odds when the market is this big.

S-markets shows more than 1.5 million pounds of bets on the winner already (you can check that on this link), and that is just one betting market - the eurovisionworld.com compares about ten of them, and I am sure there are many others that don't even make it to this aggregating website. So, let's guesstimate (with a big dose of pessimism) the total amounts of bets made at the moment at 5 million. And let's not forget you actually need to be high in the odds in May when this number explodes further compared to now, because most people are casuals who make their bets once the event is just around the corner. Once again, let's be pessimistic and say the total amount people bet during the entire season is 20 million €... Based on that, to make any meaningful lasting impact, I estimate you would have to bet higher tens of thousands of € at the very minimum throughout the season, possibly a lot more, with a very uncertain outcome at that.

It's much easier to just take that money and spend it on adds / a better staging. Even manipulating the televote of some smaller / less interested countries seems more feasible and makes more sense.
 
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spinachpie

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With a very big probability, it's a conspiracy theory - and even if someone might try, it doesn't yet mean it actually works ;) Sure, the juries might base their votes on the odds, but it is very difficult to influence odds when the market is this big.

S-markets shows more than 1.5 million pounds of bets on the winner already (you can check that on this link), and that is just one betting market - the eurovisionworld.com compares about ten of them, and I am sure there are many others that don't even make it to this aggregating website. So, let's guesstimate (with a big dose of pessimism) the total amounts of bets made at the moment at 5 million. And let's not forget you actually need to be high in the odds in May when this number explodes further compared to now, because most people are casuals who make their bets once the event is just around the corner. Once again, let's be pessimistic and say the total amount people bet during the entire season is 20 million €... Based on that, to make any meaningful lasting impact, I estimate you would have to bet higher tens of thousands of € at the very minimum throughout the season, possibly a lot more, with a very uncertain outcome at that.

It's much easier to just take that money and spend it on adds / a better staging. Even manipulating the televote of some smaller / less interested countries seems more feasible and makes more sense.

Yes exactly. Manipulating the market by placing bets would have to be on a huge scale to poke a dent. And really only jury voting would be affected, not the general public.

On the night, the public would only hear 'this is the favourite'. You would have to place so much $$$ to get your middling/poor entry to number one.
 
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Loindici

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So does that mean Azerbaijan is going to win?
:az: LONG LIVE JULIUS CAESAR Nadir Rustamli and his ballad. Too bad they didn't add a female performer for Azerbaijan.

They can call Efendi back again, of course.

Or instead, "a country that has never won will win"
which basically will leave you with a lot of countries to choose from, still.
 

Loindici

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Matt

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Open letter by ESC Pulse to the EBU

Dear EBU/Accredion,

I have been running the ESC Pulse podcast for nearly 10 years now, and have been accredited for press in 2015, 2016 and 2017 before taking a sabbatical for financial reasons. This year I applied for both on-site and online accreditation and was very quickly declined for both.

From what I have heard from friends within the Fan Community Press, you are taking a new approach in which only a few select Eurovision websites will be given accreditation while bringing in more online influencers with a general audience.

This decision really hurts me as it gives me the very strong impression that the very hard work that me and various other smaller websites put in towards covering the contest for several months of the year is completely worthless in comparison to influencers who likely have a very baseline knowledge of the contest and only follow it for that one night a year and have an audience who does the same. Does this sound fair to you? Because it certainly doesn’t sound fair to us.

I can’t speak for other smaller websites like mine, but I had big plans in mind for my website’s coverage of the contest in May that likely would have brought some originality in the coverage that you are looking for, and might have well gotten the viral attention you are looking for. I can’t say that it could have happened for sure, but the fact that I am being denied the opportunity to do so really makes me feel that all my hard work and grand ideas are worth nothing in the eyes of those who matter.

And the fact that only a few select websites (mainly Wiwibloggs) get the privilege of covering the event in May is a major insult to us smaller websites who don’t bring in the same amount of traffic they do, but still work hard to provide a diverse range of content all year round.


One other thing that gets to me personally is that the type of person found in the Press Centre every year is largely male, and as one of a very few number of women who run websites within the Fan Community Press, I feel that denying the opportunity of a prominent female voice in this community is a slap in the face in terms of diversity within the Eurovision community.

Another prominent female voice within the community, Alesia Michelle, has previously written about the severe lack of diversity in the Press Centre, not just of women but of people of colour, of which you have continually refused to respond to or even acknowledge. What does this say about a company in which their flagship show makes a point every year about acceptance regardless of background?

I hope you take the time to read this letter and reconsider your approach towards coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest. We are a big and dedicated community and this decision feels like a collective slap to the face.

 

Matt

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I will say that we should not blame wiwibloggs for anything, we are all in the same boat here.

But basically, the indepedent/fan media will have very limited representation in Italy this year unfortunately and that includes ESC United. Live Streams could be a thing of the past, nobody has been approved yet and the EBU does not communicate anything to us. I'm sure a lot of people won't care but keep in mind that the mainstream press will not be there until way later,sometime during week 2 so the coverage during the first part might not be that great.

Rumors have it that Italy is trying to get "general" influencers access to reach a broader audience, therefore sacrificing most Eurovision specific outlets, we don't know who or how many people will be there this time around. Just wanted to give you a quick rundown, I'm sure you'll read all about it on Social Media soon.
 

midnightsun

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Rumors have it that Italy is trying to get "general" influencers access to reach a broader audience, therefore sacrificing most Eurovision specific outlets, we don't know who or how many people will be there this time around.

I‘m so sorry! It’s really a slap in the face to all of you being so dedicated and having so much work just to provide us with info.
And I have nothing against wiwi, I like them and enjoy them, and they are working a lot too but they don’t have necessarily the connection to their fans like you and your team do here, that’s why ESCUnited is easily the best fan site/forum ever! :) And you should be (ac)credited for all your hard work!

I studied journalism and while I mainly work as a copywriter I do work for local newspapers sometimes (mainly interviews with local celebs) and I noticed a trend there too even at this smaller level.

It’s really annoying when some ppl (influencers) who aren’t even from the city / know nothing are allowed to do the coverage and write three sentences about an event later while I‘m really enthusiastic about something and have to work much more to get info.
 

goncalovieira

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Dear EBU,

OUR Eurovision is now part of the mainstream, but go back to 2012/13. In the western countries, the only interest for Eurovision came from the Eurovision blogs and some minor press.
Do not poop over the people that saved the dignity of the contest along the years.
That is so unfair.
 
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