This week the 64th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country’s victory at the 2018 contest with the song Toy by Netta. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan), the contest was held at Expo Tel Aviv, and consisted of two semi-finals on 14 and 16 May, and a final on 18 May 2019. The three live shows were presented by Israeli television presenters Erez Tal, Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub, and Israeli model Bar Refaeli.
Forty-one countries participated in the contest, with Bulgaria and Ukraine not returning after their participation in the previous edition. Bulgaria cited financial difficulties as the reason for its absence, while Ukraine, which had originally planned to participate, ultimately withdrew as a result of a controversy surrounding its national selection.
The winner was the Netherlands with the song Arcade, performed by Duncan Laurence and written by Laurence along with Joel Sjöö, Wouter Hardy and Will Knox. Italy, Russia, Switzerland and Sweden rounded out the top five; due to a voting error, Norway was originally placed fifth, but placed sixth after a correction. The Netherlands won the combined vote, but placed third in the jury vote after North Macedonia and Sweden, and second in the televote after Norway. Further down the table, North Macedonia and San Marino achieved their best results to date, finishing seventh and 19th respectively.
The EBU reported that the contest had an audience of 182 million viewers in 40 European markets, a decrease of 4 million viewers from the previous edition. However, an increase of two percent in the 15–24 year old age range was reported.
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