Uneven quality of the semifinals

[Tinchey]

Could the results this year, where semi 1 entries obviously outperformed semi 2 entries, lead to allocation rule change?. Could it soon be entirely up to producers? I mean the discrepancy this year was more than obvious and it showed in yt/itunes/spotify numbers after semis and eventually in televote results (don't care about Sweden being overrated in jury results, it's not worth mentioning).
What do you think?

 

[Himan]

Looking at the past SF2 was actually way stronger, so you can only predict things after you know the songs, but then you are interpreting stuff and I think you don't want to.

 

[Tinchey]

Looking at the past SF2 was actually way stronger, so you can only predict things after you know the songs, but then you are interpreting stuff and I think you don't want to.

I am not talking about numbers in ESC history but this year in particular, usually, no, mostly each of the semis has two main contenders and a couple of call them dark horses. What happened in semi 1 was that it got a top 3, also a next semifinal qualifier (Czechia being ranked behind prequalifiers) all performing equally or well in both jury or televote, but then you have semi 2 qualifiers where Sweden performed well in jury vote while Denmark shocked in televote, also Moldova had a mid result in both and that was it for top 10. Looking at numbers, semi 1 qualifiers accounted more than half of top 15 (8), semi 2 had 4, prequalifiers 3. 8 out of 10 from semi 1 were in top 15 with Ireland being close behind!! The whole bottom of the final was pretty much semi 2, even the winner of semi 2 flopped.

 

[MyHeartIsYours]

Tbh I much preferred SF2, it was brilliant. I found SF1 not to be that great.

 

[Himan]

I'm just saying that it's unpredictable beforehand.

 

[Tinchey]

Tbh I much preferred SF2, it was brilliant. I found SF1 not to be that great.

This is not about personal preference, most of my favourites were in semi 2 as well but the results showcased a different ratio of popularity. Semifinal 1 was considered very competitive and a hard one to predict. On the other hand semi 2 qualifiers felt like fillers in the final.

 

[Tinchey]

I'm just saying that it's unpredictable beforehand.

It is not really, general opinion was that semi 2 was a joke.

 

[musicfan]

This is not about personal preference, most of my favourites were in semi 2 as well but the results showcased a different ratio of popularity. Semifinal 1 was considered very competitive and a hard one to predict. On the other hand semi 2 qualifiers felt like fillers in the final.

Most of the hype was around semi 1, pre-show hype has too much influence on the event as seen by the winner this year.

I also liked more songs from semi 2. Some good variety from that one too.

 

[Realest]

The Distribution was good.
I have to remind you that Azerbaijan was 11th in SF1 and Hungary 10th in SF2 and I hope I dont have to explain that Hungary was worlds better.

 

[Alaska49]

It is not really, general opinion was that semi 2 was a joke.

what was meant is that it is unpredictable when the semifinal draw is chosen, which is true because most or all songs aren't known yet. remember when we all thought semi 1 was going to be a terrible black hole? good times

 

[0scar]

Not healthy for the contest to try to regulate everything

Bring back the random draw for the running order, keep the semi final allocation
Most of the times it works out fine, sometimes it does not, but there's no need to erase that bit of luck

 

[FilipFromSweden]

I don't think uneven quality in semi-finals is that big of a deal. It doesn't happen that often (even though you often prefer one semi-final over the other) that a semi-final is much more dominant, I can think of this year and semi-final 2 in 2010

 

[FreeFair]

I think it's fair to say that, given how this year's draw narrowly obliterated 3 100% qualification records (Russia, Azerbaijan, Romania) & eliminated 3 countries entries whose diaspora usually gets them across the qualifying line (Greece, Armenia, Poland) and FINALLY gave many smaller & less successful countries with good entries a chance to compete together, that things worked out for the best. Aisel & the Humans came in 11th place, after all.