Five countries boycotted this year's Eurovision Song Contest because Israel was still allowed to compete despite the war in Gaza, while Russia was immediately excluded when it attacked Ukraine.
The Netherlands, Iceland, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia withdrew, and the latter three countries did not broadcast the song contest at all, which probably contributed to the drop in viewers.
The largest number of viewers per capita was in the Nordic countries, the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) said, but in Sweden it has been reported that this year's broadcast of the ESC final dropped significantly - from 2.6 million last year to 1.9 million this year.
In the UK, the show had 3.7 million viewers, in France 3.3 million and in Poland 3.8 million.
With Dara winning this year with "Banagaranga", Eurovision will be held in Bulgaria next year.
