Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015


Australia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, Austria. Owing to its cultural and political ties to European countries, the Eurovision Song Contest has been televised in Australia by the public broadcaster SBS for over thirty years. In honour of the contest's 60th running and in recognition of the event's popularity in Australia, it was announced on 10 February 2015 that Australia was to be invited to compete in the 2015 contest as a special guest participant. Australians have participated in and even won Eurovision as representatives of other countries. In 2015 for example, the Australian coloratura soprano of Armenian descent Mary-Jean O'Doherty participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 contest as part of the group Genealogy representing Armenia. But this marked the first time that the country has officially participated.
In March 2015, SBS announced that it had selected Guy Sebastian to represent Australia; he performed the song "Tonight Again" written by himself, David Ryan Harris and Louis Schoorl. Along with Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, Australia was given an automatic entry into the grand final. The EBU has considered the possibility of similarly inviting other guest countries to future editions of the contest. However it was revealed in May 2015 that Australia might become a permanent participant following some reports by executive supervisor Jon Ola Sand to the Swedish broadcaster. In November 2015, the EBU announced that Australia would return in 2016.
Australia finished in fifth place in the final on 23 May, with a total of 196 points. In terms of individual votes, Sweden, Austria, Norway, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Iceland, Hungary, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Poland and San Marino all placed Australia in the top three. Host nation Austria and winner of the contest Sweden awarded 12 points to Australia.

Background

Prior to the 2015 contest, Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service had been broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest for over 30 years, and the popularity of the contest has grown over those years—primarily a result of the country's strong political and cultural ties with Europe. The cult following of Eurovision in Australia was acknowledged during the event itself; during the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, an interval act during the semi-finals paid tribute to Australian culture, and featured a performance by local singer Jessica Mauboy. Australian singers have also participated at Eurovision as representatives of other countries, including Olivia Newton John, two-time winner Johnny Logan, Gina G, and Jane Comerford as lead singer of Texas Lightning.
The EBU announced on 10 February 2015 that the country would compete at that year's edition as a special guest participant.

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

At a press conference held at the Sydney Opera House on 5 March 2015 at 09:30 Australian Eastern Standard Time, it was announced that the Australian public broadcaster, SBS, had internally selected Guy Sebastian to represent Australia at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Sebastian's song, "Tonight Again", was officially unveiled by SBS on 16 March.
Sebastian was not the only Australian participating in the 2015 contest; Australian soprano Mary-Jean O'Doherty participated as a member of Genealogy, a group representing Armenia that consisted primarily of Armenian diaspora. The Russian song was also co-written by an Australian, Katrina Noorbergen, who also performed backing vocals for Polina Gagarina.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. Due to the special circumstances surrounding Australia's entry and "to not reduce the chances" of the semi-final participants, contest organisers allowed Australia to compete directly in the grand final on 23 May 2015 without pre-qualification. This raised the number of competitors in the grand final to 27. As part of their guest participation, Australia was also allowed to vote in both semi-finals as well as the grand final.
In Australia, both semi-finals and the final were broadcast live on SBS One at 5am AEST, allowing Australia to participate in the official voting period. In addition to live broadcasts early on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday mornings, all three shows were replayed in primetime on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. The commentators for all three shows were Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang. The Australian spokesperson, who announced the Australian votes during the final, was Lee Lin Chin. Chin was announced as Australia's voting spokesperson on an episode of The Feed on 18 May 2015.
According to OzTAM viewership ratings for metropolitan markets, the first semi-final attracted 75,000 viewers watching live on 20 May, with an additional 500,000 viewers watching a primetime replay on 22 May. The replay was the most watched program on any Australian television channel with viewers aged 16–39 on 22 May. The second semi-final was watched by 61,000 viewers live on 22 May, and an additional 639,000 viewers watching a primetime replay on 23 May. The latter is a record audience for any Eurovision broadcast in Australian history. The replay was also the most watched television program with viewers aged 16–49, and second most watched with viewers 25-54 on 23 May. The final was broadcast live on 24 May and replayed the same day in primetime. The live broadcast, airing between 5am and 9am AEST was watched by 263,000 viewers, while the primetime broadcast drew 592,000 viewers. The primetime replay improved on the 476,000 viewers that watched the 2014 final by more than 20%.

Final

Guy Sebastian took part in technical rehearsals on 17 and 20 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 22 and 23 May. This included the jury final where professional juries of each country, responsible for 50 percent of each country's vote, watched and voted on the competing entries. After technical rehearsals were held on 20 May, the "Big 5" countries, host nation Austria and Australia held a press conference. As part of this press conference, the artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. Australia was drawn to compete in the first half. Following the conclusion of the second semi-final, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final. The running order for the semi-finals and final was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Australia was subsequently placed to perform in position 12, following the entry from Cyprus and before the entry from Belgium.
The stage show featured Guy Sebastian dressed in a suit and joined by four backing vocalists, who performed choreographed movements. One of the main features of the performance were six giant illuminated lamp-post stage props which also expelled exploding pyrotechnics at the end of the song. The stage atmosphere and lighting featured red, orange, blue and yellow spotlights together with the background LED screens displaying moving roads and a nighttime cityscape. The four backing vocalists that joined Sebastian on stage were Carmen Smith, Aaron Marcellus, Brandon Winbush and Devin Michael.
At the conclusion of the voting, Australia finished in fifth place with 196 points. Australia received 12 points, the maximum number of points a country can give to another country, from two countries: Austria and Sweden. Australia's participation in the Eurovision was intended to be a one-off event; however, if Australia had won, it would have been able to return for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, as is customary. If this were to occur, the contest would have been co-organized by an EBU member and held in a European host city.

Voting

Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent, with their names published before the contest to ensure transparency. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. The individual rankings of each jury member were released shortly after the grand final.
Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Australia had placed sixth with the public televote and fourth with the jury vote. In the public vote, Australia scored 132 points and in the jury vote the nation scored 224 points.
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Australia and awarded by Australia in both semi-finals and the grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the three shows:

Points awarded to Australia

Points awarded by Australia

Split voting results

The following five members comprised the Australian jury: