Russians are losing their interest in the Eurovision Song Contest.
MOSCOW, May 18, 2018. The Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the results of a survey devoted to the results of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 which took place in Portugal.
The share of the Russian viewers who watched the Eurovision grand finale in 2018 (16%) is much lower than the share two years ago (38%). Those who watched the broadcast were women (21%) and people aged 60 and over (24%) rather than men (9%) and middle-aged Russians (9% among the 35-44-year-olds).
Russian TV viewers think that the televoting was more unbiased (41%) than the jury’s voting (32%).
More than one-third of respondents (36%) know that Yulia Samoylova representing Russia took part in the contest Semi-Final (when asked without prompting). Those who are well aware are residents of Moscow and St Petersburg (47%), women (43%), and active Internet users (40%). Russians are divided in their opinions on the impartiality in the assessment of the Samoylova’s performance: 28% think that the judging was fair, 26% say not. Most of those who consider the assessments to be unbiased are young Russians (39% among the 18-24-year-olds).
The VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide surveys were conducted in May 14-15, 2018.The survey involved 2,000 Russians aged 18 and over, and was carried out using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.2%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
The results for 2009, 2016 are based on household surveys.
Did you watch the grand finale of the Eurovision Song Contest? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of all respondents) | |||
2009 | 2016 | 2018 | |
Yes, I did | 35 | 38 | 16 |
No, I did not | 64 | 61 | 84 |
Don’t know | 1 | 1 | 0 |
In your opinion, to what extent were the following criteria unbiased? (closed-ended question, one answer per each line, % of those who watched the grand finale of Eurovision 2018) | ||||
|
| Likely unbiased | Likely biased | Don’t know |
Televote results | 2018 | 41 | 43 | 16 |
2016 | 51 | 40 | 9 | |
Vote of professional jury | 2018 | 32 | 51 | 17 |
2016 | 10 | 80 | 10 | |
Do you know who represented Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest this year? Please, name this person. (open-endued question, one answer, % of all respondents) | ||||
Total respondents | Those who use the Internet almost every day | Those who use the Internet several times per week/per month | Those who use the Internet occasionally or never use it | |
Samoylova (or Yulia Samoylova) | 36 | 40 | 35 | 27 |
Other name/other band name | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
Hard to say/Don’t know | 59 | 56 | 61 | 67 |
In your opinion, were the assessments of the performance of Yulia Samoylova representing Russia unbiased or not? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of all respondents) | ||||||
| Total respondents | Aged 18-24 | Aged 25-34 | Aged 35-44 | Aged 45-59 | Aged 60 and over |
Likely unbiased | 28 | 39 | 30 | 22 | 30 | 28 |
Likely biased | 26 | 19 | 22 | 30 | 26 | 27 |
Don’t know | 46 | 42 | 48 | 48 | 44 | 45 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!