"The big question coming out of this week's Eurovision YouTube views: could San Marino be on its way to the Grand Final again?
Trends
Overall viewership is down from last week, with all 43 entries attracting 6.3 million views versus 8.6 million. I would wager interest is leveling off until some of the national final performances are replaced with music videos and the semi-final running orders get announced. Ten videos have more than a million views each, with a couple approaching the 2 million mark.
First Semi-Final
Top Spots
Sweden's Robin Bengtsson managed to slide into the overall top spot this week. "I Can't Go On" added 470,000 views -- the third-most watched video this week -- and will likely surpass 2 million views by the end of the day (if it hasn't already). Last week's leader, Belgium's "City Lights" by Blanche, added 362,000 views and is also creeping up toward 2 million, sitting at 1.9 million watches. Australia joined the million view club, thanks to an addition 148,000 views since last Wednesday.
Big Moves
Sweden and Beligum claimed the one and two spots, respectively, in weekly views. Third place went to Armenia's "Fly With Me" by Artsvik, which scored another 321,000 views. Artsvik, Azerbaijan's Dihaj, and Hovig from Cyprus are all closing in on 1 million total views.
You in danger, girl
Georgia's "Keep the Faith" is still in the basement, pulling in only 24,600 views for a total of just under 115,000 views. A new video is expected in the coming days, which should include the studio version of the track. Things aren't looking great for Slovenia: Omar Naber's "On My Way" brought in only 25,600 views and is second from the bottom overall in total views.
Second Semi-Final
Top Spots
The controversy surrounding Russia's participation((Editor's Note: Until the EBU/Eurovision officially announces Russia withdrawing from or changing their entry for this year's Contest, we will be proceeding under the assumption that they will be competing with Julia Samoylova.)) may have helped move "Flame is Burning" to the top spot. Julia Samoylova's song had the most weekly views (581,000) and has almost 1.5 million total views. Bulgaria has moved into second place, with 363,000 clicks on Kristian Kostov's "Beautiful Mess" bringing his total to 1.41 million. FYR Macedonia slipped to third place, with Jana Burčeska's "Dance Alone" sitting at 1.39 million views.
Big Moves
The biggest surprise this week? San Marino had the second-highest weekly viewer total of the entire field. "Spirit of the Night" by Valentina Monetta and Jimmie Wilson had 568,000 views, pushing it above 1.1 million total views. "Lights and Shadows" by O'G3NE from the Netherlands passed the 1 million mark.
You in danger, girl
Malta had the lowest viewership of the second semi-final this week, with Claudia Faniello's "Breathlessly" attracting only 31,000 views. Although Croatia scored a few more viewers (33,600), it's still at the bottom of the pile with 171,600 total views. Although Estonia's "Lost in Verona" recovered slightly from last week's underwhelming debut, Koit Toome & Laura are only ahead of Jacques Houdek's "My Friend" by about 3,000 views.
The Auto-Qualifiers
France's Alma joined the million views club, with "Requiem" reaching 1,067,000 views. She also had the most views of the group this week, scoring 287,000 clicks. Ukraine's O.Torvald isn't having a great "Time" this week: it is the least watched of the group both for this week and overall.
YouTube viewership figures are based on surveying the official Eurovision channel videos between 8pm and 8:30pm Eastern on Wednesdays."