Overview
- Bulgaria’s Dara won Saturday’s grand final in Vienna with 516 points, while Israel’s Noam Bettan placed second with 343 in a field reshaped by protests and no-shows.
- Israel’s result again showed the jury–public split, with 123 jury points and 220 from viewers under the 50/50 system after the EBU cut per-person televotes to 10 this year.
- Organizers issued a warning over campaign material urging fans to “vote 10 times,” and security removed audience members who disrupted Bettan’s performance during the semifinals, according to ORF and the EBU.
- Five broadcasters—Spain, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia—boycotted participation or broadcast, and UK viewing fell to about 5.2 million, the lowest since 2010, though Greece reported a 15‑year high.
- A New York Times report on at least $1 million in Israeli promotional ads and lost fees estimated at up to nearly €1 million highlight financial strain and raise fresh questions about Eurovision’s voting rules and long-term credibility.