Spain's public broadcaster TVE scores record number of viewers with Eurovision, but Melody drops to bottom of ratings

Melody's place third from the bottom at Eurovision 2025 came as a bitter pill to swallow for Spanish fans of the song contest. Not even the worst forecasts predicted that the performer of Esa Diva would rank 24th among the 26 participating countries, ahead only of Iceland and San Marino.

The glass microphone (the award given to Eurovision's winner) was awarded to Austria's contestant, Johannes Pietsch, who shared the moment of uncertainty before the announcement of the first place with Israel's representative. Pietsch, known by his stage name of JJ, demonstrated great vocal skills during his performance of opera-pop song Wasted Love.

Spain ranked low last year too, with Nebulossa's Zorra rating 22nd. In 2023, Blanca Paloma finished 17th. Spain's most recent achievement was in 2022, when Chanel's 'SloMo' ranked 3rd. Melody shares the 24th position with Blas Cantó, who sang in 2021.

TVE deepens its crisis of proposals for a song contest in which it continues to miss the mark. The public broadcaster revived the spirit of the original Benidorm Festival with the launch of the Benidorm Fest - a Eurovision preselection event that also served to discover new musical talent, as a new method for selecting Spain's Eurovision representative after a dreadful decade in which Spain repeatedly finished in the bottom positions of the European contest.

Melody refused to comment before the media waiting for her in Basel. She also did not take part in TVE's special broadcast from her hometown, Dos Hermanas near Seville, despite this becoming a tradition for previous Spanish representatives. Instead, she posted a video on social media, in which she said: "I am very satisfied, because we have won. Long live art and music, even if sometimes other things prevail." Melody returned to Spain on her own, without the Spanish delegation in Switzerland.

Melody's father gave an interview for RTVE, in which he said that he did not understand the high number of points that Israel received from the public. Head of the Spanish delegation, Ana María Bordas, also expressed her disappointment at the jury's inability to recognise Melody's vocal skills.

Austria's JJ won with a total of 428 points, overtaking Israel (357) and Estonia (356). His performance was strongly backed by the stage props designed by Elche's Sergio Jaén and choreography by Malaga's Borja Rueda. Together, the two artists created a jaw-dropping black and white show.

At just 24 years old, JJ won the glass microphone. "Love is the most powerful force in the world. Let's spread more love," he said, proudly consolidating himself as a queer artist. This is the first time Austria wins the contest since Conchita Wurst's victory a decade ago.

Eurovision was confirmed as the most watched non-sporting event of the year. RTVE's main channel - La 1 - recorded 5.8 million viewers and a 50.1% audience share during the contest, which started at 9pm and lasted nearly four hours. The figures soared even higher when the time to vote came: 6,315,000 viewers and a 59.7% share.

La 1 closed Saturday with 25.9%, beating Antena 3 (8.7%) and Telecinco (6.1%). The post-gala programme - La noche de Melody - also recorded great numbers (36.6%). According to data, the region of Madrid was the one with the highest number of Eurovision viewers, while Galicia had the fewest viewers.