Finland: Panel ranking, online voting, and more

With UMK 2017 less than a month away, Finland is gearing up for their national final with plenty of pre-contest activity.

Preview show

Yesterday Yle aired a preview show in which an expert panel consisting of Eini, Tuija Pehkonen, Jaana Pelkonen (Eurovision 2007 host) and Suvi Aalto (sister of Saara Aalto) listened to the songs and ranked them according to their taste. My First Band and Emma lead the vote while Knucklebone Oscar & The Shangri-La Rubies failed to impress the panel.
Full ranking:

1. My First Band
2. Emma
3. Zühlke
4. Norma John
5. Alva
6. Club La Persé
7. Anni Saikku
8. Lauri Yrjölä
9. Günther & D’Sanz
10. Knucklebone Oscar & The Shangri-La Rubies

Music videos

In addition to the preview show, the official music videos for the 10 entries premiered on UMK’s official Youtube channel. Courtesy of Yle, every entry had the chance to record a promotional music video ahead of the one-night final later this month.

Online voting

Just like last year, the results of UMK 2017 will be decided by a split vote where the public and an expert jury will get their say. One part of the public vote is the online vote, which opened yesterday. Up until January 26th, fans can vote for their favorites. The voting is free of charge. However, international fans may be out of luck. To vote, you need a Finnish phone subscription.
While anything can happen on the final night, the preview show ranking might be an indicator of which entries are more likely to do well. If we add the Youtube views of the official music videos as well as the lyrics videos there seems to be an early favorite. Emma’s “Circle of Light” has managed to attract a fair amount of buzz and could be seen as the leader of the pack. Whether or not the numbers will add up for her on January 28th as well remains to be seen.