Sixteen acts took to the stage yesterday in the first and second dress rehearsal of the second semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.
When peace returned to the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool, the Eurovision Audience Poll team asked members of the audience who their favourite act of the night was. This resulted in a very clear top two, with Austria’s Teya & Salena taking the crown with 27.90% of the total vote.
In this year’s second Eurovision Audience Poll, run by a collective of four fan media platforms (ESCXTRA.com, ESC Insight, The Euro Trip Podcast and BetEurovision), it was a surprising silver medal for Gustaph from Belgium. After a massive cheer in the audience, the feeling may have been that he was going to do well in the Audience Poll. It brought him second place with 24.50%. Completing the podium was another act receiving a loud cheer: Voyager. Australia gathered exactly 17% of the votes.
Perhaps surprising when looking at the pre-season, it’s Blanka from Poland in fourth. The bejba of the year followed our top three at a distance with 7%. However, that means she was still quite a bit ahead of our number five Armenia (3.9%).
Just 21 votes eventually separated sixth place Estonia (3.2%) from their Baltic sister in eleventh: Lithuania (2.3%). That means it was extremely close in the midfield. For last night, Cyprus and Slovenia (2.7%) still finished on the left hand side of the scoreboard. Iceland’s Diljá was also a somewhat surprising qualifier, scoring 2.6% and a ninth place in total. With that, she was one vote ahead of our last qualifier – Reiley from Denmark.
After Lithuania, the next Audience Poll non-qualifiers were Greece (1.3%) and San Marino (0.8%). To our surprise, Georgia then followed with a mere 0.5% of the vote. With that, they scored the same result as Albania’s Albina & Familja Kelmendi. Finishing bottom of the scoreboard was Theodor Andrei from Romania, collecting just 0.4% of the vote. A total of 2525 votes was cast last night.
ANALYSING THE RESULTS
Compared to previous expectations from bookmakers, fans and the ESCXTRA.com Press Poll, there are some surprising conclusions. Comparing the two polls tells us that only San Marino and Romania were non-qualifiers in both. The other four countries who wouldn’t progress are different between the two, which tells us how wide open this semi actually is. The only countries qualifying in both polls are Austria, Belgium, Australia, Armenia, Cyprus and Slovenia. Are they the six sure qualifiers?
Austria has been named a potential winner of this all televote semi more often before, but the biggest surprise is Belgium’s second place. When Gustaph won Eurosong back in January, the Belgian delegation could hardly have expected the narrative on their entry taking such a positive turn. Because Of You has developed into a possible safe qualifier and a potential televote dark horse. Can Flanders get their first top ten since 2016 – or maybe even their first ever top five?
Also surprising is the major difference for Poland and Albania with the Audience Poll and the Press Poll. Where Albania came fifth in the Press Poll, they now find themselves in fifteenth. Blanka turns that around, with an eleventh place in the Press Poll and a solid fourth place in the Audience Poll.
THE EUROVISION AUDIENCE POLL RETURNS ON FRIDAY
The second semifinal of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will take place tonight at 20:00 BST. Sixteen acts will battle for ten tickets to the Grand Final on Saturday, joining the six autoqualifiers and the ten qualified from the first semi. Make sure you tune in to find out who will make it through.
On Friday, the Eurovision Audience Poll will return for its final outing of the year. Our team will once again hit the streets of Liverpool to ask the audience about their favourites after watching the jury rehearsal of the Grand Final. Members of ESCXTRA.com, ESC Insight, The Euro Trip Podcast and BetEurovision will join forces again to make sure we will all know what the audience thought of the second semi.
