Eurovision Song Contest 2006

The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the 2005 contest with the song "My Number One" by Helena Paparizou. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), the contest was held at the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall, and consisted of a semi-final on 18 May, and a final on 20 May 2006. The two live shows were presented by American television personality Maria Menounos and Greek former contestant Sakis Rouvas.[2]

Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Feel the Rhythm
Dates
Semi-final18 May 2006 (2006-05-18)
Final20 May 2006 (2006-05-20)
Host
VenueNikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall
Athens, Greece
Presenter(s)
Directed byVolker Weicker
Executive supervisorSvante Stockselius
Executive producerFotini Yannoulatou
Host broadcasterHellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT)
Opening act
  • Semi-final: Eurovision medley performed by Greek gods and goddesses;
  • "Love Shine a Light" performed by Sakis Rouvas and Maria Menounos
  • Final: "The Mermaid Song" performed by Foteini Darra accompanied by Greek dancers;
  • "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou
Interval act
  • Semi-final: Emilia Tsoulfa and Dimosthenis Tampakos;
  • "I'm In Love With You" performed by Sakis Rouvas;
  • Greek musical and dance pieces (composed by Dimitris Papadimitriou, choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos)
  • Final: "Mambo!" performed by Helena Paparizou;
  • 4000 Years of Greek Song (composed by Dimitris Papadimitriou, choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos);
  • Nana Mouskouri[1]
Websiteeurovision.tv/event/athens-2006
Participants
Number of entries37
Debuting countries Armenia
Returning countriesNone
Non-returning countries
  •  Austria
  •  Hungary
  •  Serbia and Montenegro
Participation map
  •      Participating countries     Did not qualify from the semi final     Countries that participated in the past but not in 2006
Vote
Voting systemEach country awarded 12, 10, 8–1 point(s) to their 10 favourite songs
Nul points in finalNone
Winning song
  •  Finland
  • "Hard Rock Hallelujah"

Thirty-seven countries participated in the contest. Armenia took part for the first time. Meanwhile, Austria, Hungary, and Serbia and Montenegro announced their non-participation in the contest. Serbia and Montenegro had intended to participate, but due to a scandal in the national selection, tensions were caused between the Serbian broadcaster, RTS, and the Montenegrin broadcaster, RTCG. Despite this, the nation did retain voting rights for the contest.

The winner was Finland with the heavy metal-song "Hard Rock Hallelujah", performed by Lordi and written by lead singer Mr. Lordi. This was Finland's first victory in the contest - and first top five placing - in 45 years of participation, the longest time a country had competed without a win at that point. It was also the first ever hard rock song to win the contest, as well as the first band to win since 1997. Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania and Sweden rounded out the top five. Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved their best result in their Eurovision history. Further down the table, Lithuania also achieved their best result to date, finishing sixth. Of the "Big Four" countries Germany placed the highest, finishing joint fourteenth (with Norway).

The contest saw the 1,000th song performed in the contest, when Ireland's Brian Kennedy performed "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" in the semi-final.

Location

The contest took place in Athens, Greece, following the country's victory at the 2005 edition with the song "My Number One", performed by Helena Paparizou. It was the first time Greece hosted the contest.[3]

Venue
Olympic Indoor Hall, Athens - host venue of the 2006 contest.

The venue that was chosen as the host venue was the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall (in 2006 it was named as Olympic Indoor Arena), which is located in the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, in the capital city of Greece. Completed in 1995, it was the largest indoor venue used at the 2004 Summer Olympics when hosted gymnastics and the basketball finals and the 2004 Summer Paralympics when hosted the wheelchair basketball.[4]

Bidding phase
Locations of the candidate cities: the chosen host city is marked in blue, while the eliminated cities are marked in red.

When Greece won the 2005 contest, the Head of the Greek Delegation, Fotini Yiannoulatou, said that ERT was ready to host the event in Athens the next year. However, multiple cities bid to host the 2006 contest, including Thessaloniki and Patras, the second and the third largest city in Greece, respectively. The majors of the three cities (Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras) were said that their cities were ready to host the event. The venues that were rumored for each city were Olympic Indoor Hall for Athens, Pylea Sports Hall for Thessaloniki and Dimitris Tofalos Arena for Patras.[5][6]

Few days after Greece's won in the contest, the Greek public broadcaster stated that “ERT intends to hold the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, taking into account EBU's already expressed wish for the event to be combined with the Olympic facilities and amenities that the city of Athens has to offer”. Mr. Panaghiotis Psomiadis, the Prefect of Thessaloniki stated the city will fight for the hosting of the contest.[5] As the city of Patras seemed not to be available to host the contest, at the end it was a two-horse race between Athens and Thessaloniki.

Finally, on June 30, 2005, ERT and EBU announced that Athens will be the host city of the 2006 contest, despite the opposition of some Greek politicians, stated that Athens already had its promotion during the 2004 Summer Olympics and that it's “another city's turn now”. The joint decision of the EBU and ERT is to host the 51st Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, which has several modern Olympic venues, infrastructure and a proven ability to host events of this size.[7]

Other sites

The Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors' area during the events week. There it was possible to watch performances by local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue. Located at the Zappeion, it was open from 15 to 21 May 2006.[8][9]

The EuroClub was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegates, and press. It was located at Athens Technopolis, an industrial museum and a major cultural venue of the city.[8]

The official "Welcome and Opening Ceremonies" events, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place also in Zappeon on 15 May 2006 at 21:00 EET, followed by the Opening Ceremony.[8]

Format

Visual design

The official logo of the contest remained the same from 2004 and 2005 with the country's flag in the heart being changed. The 2006 sub-logo was presented to the public through a press conference that was held in November 1, 2005, in King George Hotel in Athens, while it was created by the design company Karamela for Greek television and was apparently based on the Phaistos Disc which is a popular symbol of ancient Greece.[10] According to ERT, it was "inspired by the wind and the sea, the golden sunlight and the glow of the sand".[10] Following Istanbul's "Under The Same Sky" and Kyiv's "Awakening", the slogan for the 2006 show was "Feel The Rhythm". This theme was also the basis for the postcards for the 2006 show, which emphasized Greece's historical significance as well as being a major modern tourist destination.[11]

In addition to the graphic design, there was a theme music for the contest composed by Nikko Patrelakis, which was used in the intros and in-between commercial breaks, as well as besides the participating entries. The theme music package was conducted by Andreas Pylarinos, while the ERT Symphony Orchestra recorded all music used during the show.[12]

Stage design

The host broadcaster ERT announced that the British company Stage One has been appointed to build the set for the contest. Stage One was designed the sets for the Opening and Closing ceremonies of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The broadcaster have announced that the concept will be rich with traditional Greek elements, paying homage to the country's history and culture.[13][14] The stage for the contest was designed by Greek stage designer Elias Ledakis. He would go on to design the stage for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Kyiv, Ukraine.[15] The stage was a replica of an ancient Greek amphitheatre.[16]

Postcards

As it was referred, the theme "Feel The Rhythm" was also the basis for the postcards, which emphasized Greece's historical significance as well as being a major modern tourist destination. The postcards filmed between March and April 2006. The host broadcaster ERT spent 3 million euros on the production of the 37 postcards. Fanis Papathanisiou of ERT said: “An impressive, international tourism campaign is expensive as well. The Eurovision Song Contest is a perfect platform to achieve equal or even better results. That's why it is worth the investment”. To decide what to show in the postcards, ERT hold surveys in all participating countries, asking what people associate Greece with.[17]

Voting segment

To save time in the final, the voting time lasted ten minutes and the voting process was changed: points 1-7 were shown immediately on-screen. The spokespersons only announced the countries scoring 8, 10 and 12 points. Despite this being intended to speed proceedings up, there were still problems during voting – EBU imaging over-rode Maria Menounos during a segment in the voting interval and some scoreboards were slow to load. The Dutch spokesperson Paul de Leeuw also caused problems, giving his mobile number to presenter Rouvas during the Dutch results, and slowing down proceedings, also by announcing the first seven points. Constantinos Christoforou (who also represented Cyprus in 1996, 2002 and 2005) saluted from "Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe"; during Cyprus' reading, the telecast displayed Switzerland by mistake. This voting process has been criticized because suspense was lost by only reading three votes instead of ten. And for the first and only time before the Prespa agreement, the display for the Macedonian entry had the title spelled out in its entirety (as "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia") instead of being abbreviated as it has been in previous years (as "FYR Macedonia").

Presenters
The hosts, Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas.

After Greece's win, several websites claimed to know that Alexandra Pascalidou would be co-host the 2006 Contest, together with the Greek-French journalist and entertainer Nikos Aliagas, but these speculations were untrue.[18][19]

Initially, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) asked Sakis Rouvas to represent again Greece in Athens, an offer which he didn't accept. With the Greek broadcaster wanting Rouvas' involvement in the contest, they offered him to be one of the hosts of the contest, where he accepted. Between the names that were rumored for the female host, included the Greek Canadian actress, screenwriter, director, and producer Nia Vardalos (known for writing and starring in My Big Fat Greek Wedding), the Greek social entrepreneur and philanthropist Elizabeth Filippouli (later, she founded the Global Thinkers Forum in London), the Greek American actress, producer, and businesswoman Jennifer Aniston (world-known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends (1994–2004), for which she earned Primetime Emmy, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild awards), all three of them having Greek roots, and the previous edition's winner, Helena Paparizou.[19]

After a lot of speculations, the Greek broadcaster announced on 7 March 2006 that the Greek American entertainment reporter, television personality, professional wrestler, actress, and businesswoman Maria Menounos would be the hostess of the contest. Menounos was starring along with Sean Connery in the movie remake video game James Bond 007: From Russia with love, while in 2002 she joined the NBC show Entertainment Tonight.[20]

Menounos and Rouvas also hosted the allocation draw on March 21, 2006, in order to determine the running order for the semi-final, the grand final and - for the first time in the history of the contest - the voting order.[21][22]

The "Welcome to the Party" opening ceremony was hosted by actress Zeta Makrypoulia and actor/screenwriter of the show, Giorgos Kapoutzidis, while Ioanna Papanikolopoulou was moderated the press conferences.

Opening and interval acts
Nana Mouskouri appeared as a guest in the grand final.

The semi-final opened with a medley of former Eurovision songs performed by Greek gods: "Welcome to the Party" (runner-up at the Ellinikós Telikós 2006) of Anna Vissi performed by Muses, "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" (Italy 1958) of Domenico Modugno performed by Zeus, "L'amour est bleu" (Luxembourg 1967) of Vicky Leandros performed by Poseidon, "Save Your Kisses for Me" (United Kingdom 1976) of Brotherhood of Man performed by Hermes, "Making Your Mind Up" (United Kingdom 1981) of Bucks Fizz performed by Athena, "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" (Israel 1978) of Izhar Cohen & The Alphabeta performed by Hephaestus, "Dschinghis Khan" (Germany 1979) of Dschinghis Khan performed by Ares, "Diva" (Israel 1998) of Dana International performed by Aphrodite, "Waterloo" (Sweden 1974) of ABBA performed by Charites, "Wild Dances" (Ukraine 2004) of Ruslana performed by Artemis and "My Number One" (Greece 2005) of Helena Paparizou performed by the ensemble cast of the Greek gods. In addition, the hosts Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas sang the winning song of the 1997 contest, "Love Shine a Light" of Katrina and the Waves, representing the United Kingdom.

The grand final opened with a ballet dance, symbolizing the birth of Greece. Greek singer Foteini Darra performed "The Mermaid Song" (also known as "The Song of Life"), while the dancers and the sets mimicked the creative elements (the sea, the wind, the sun). At the end of the ballet, the presenters appeared in the air, suspended from ropes. They landed on the stage and greeted the audience. They immediately introduced the previous year's winner, Helena Paparizou, who covered her winning song, "My Number One".

The interval act of the semi-final began with the English cover of the song "S'eho Erotefthi", performed as "I'm In Love With You" from the host Sakis Rouvas. A folkloric ballet followed, using traditional Greek music and dances, with the pan flute as a conducting element. This ballet was composed by Dimitris Papadimitriou and choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos, while for the grand final, Helena Paparizou performed her song "Mambo!", already a hit in Greece. The interval act closed with a contemporary ballet entitled 4000 Years of Greek Song and which traced the history of the musical culture of the host country. This ballet was also composed by Dimitris Papadimitriou and choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos.

The voting lines for both shows opened by three special guests: for the semi-final the lines opened by Emilia Tsoulfa (Gold medalist in Athens 2004 at 470 class sailing representing Greece) and Dimosthenis Tampakos (Greek gymnast and Olympic gold medalist) and for the grand final the lines opened from the Luxembourgish entrant at the 1963 contest, Nana Mouskouri.

Participating countries

All participating countries in a Eurovision Song Contest must be active members of the EBU.

It was initially announced on 16 January 2006 that thirty-eight countries would participate in the contest,[23] with Austria opting not to participate due to the bad result at the previous contest[24] and Hungary also deciding not to participate due to financial reasons.[25] Armenia participated for the very first time in the history of the contest.[26]

Serbia and Montenegro announced its withdrawal on 15 March 2006, reducing the participants number from 38 to 37. Despite its withdrawal, Serbia and Montenegro still regained their rights to vote in the contest.[27]

Returning artists
Lead artists
Artist Country Previous year(s)
Anna Vissi  Greece 1980 (with the Epikouri) and 1982 (for  Cyprus)
Carola  Sweden 1983 and 1991
Eddie Butler  Israel 1999 (as member of Eden)
Fabrizio Faniello  Malta 2001
Ich Troje  Poland 2003
Victor Diawara (member of LT United)  Lithuania 2001 (as member of Skamp)
Backing performers
Artist Country Previous year(s)
Sigríður Beinteinsdóttir  Iceland 1990 (as member of Stjórnin), 1992 (as member of Heart 2 Heart), and 1994

Additionally, Hari Mata Hari were selected to represent Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1999 contest, but their entry was disqualified. Ireland's Brian Kennedy performed in Lumen, the interval act of the 1995 contest.

Host Sakis Rouvas previously represented Greece at the 2004 contest. If No Name had been permitted to represent Serbia and Montenegro, they would have done so for the second consecutive year.

Semi-final

The semi-final was held on 18 May 2006 at 21:00 (CET). 23 countries performed and all 37 participants and Serbia and Montenegro voted.

  Qualifiers
R/O Country Artist Song Language[28] Points Place[29]
1  Armenia André "Without Your Love" English 150 6
2  Bulgaria Mariana Popova "Let Me Cry" English 36 17
3  Slovenia Anžej Dežan "Mr Nobody" English 49 16
4  Andorra Jenny "Sense tu" Catalan 8 23
5  Belarus Polina Smolova "Mum" English 10 22
6  Albania Luiz Ejlli "Zjarr e ftohtë" Albanian 58 14
7  Belgium Kate Ryan "Je t'adore" English 69 12
8  Ireland Brian Kennedy "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" English 79 9
9  Cyprus Annet Artani "Why Angels Cry" English 57 15
10  Monaco Séverine Ferrer "La Coco-Dance" French, Tahitian 14 21
11  Macedonia Elena Risteska "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) English, Macedonian 76 10
12  Poland Ich Troje[lower-alpha 1] "Follow My Heart" English, Polish, German, Russian[lower-alpha 2] 70 11
13  Russia Dima Bilan "Never Let You Go" English 217 3
14  Turkey Sibel Tüzün "Süper Star" Turkish[lower-alpha 3] 91 8
15  Ukraine Tina Karol "Show Me Your Love" English 146 7
16  Finland Lordi "Hard Rock Hallelujah" English 292 1
17  Netherlands Treble "Amambanda" English, Imaginary 22 20
18  Lithuania LT United "We Are the Winners" English[lower-alpha 4] 163 5
19  Portugal Nonstop "Coisas de nada" Portuguese, English 26 19
20  Sweden Carola "Invincible" English 214 4
21  Estonia Sandra "Through My Window" English 28 18
22  Bosnia and Herzegovina Hari Mata Hari "Lejla" Bosnian 267 2
23  Iceland Silvía Night "Congratulations" English 62 13

Final

The finalists were:

The final was held on 20 May 2006 at 21:00 (CET) and was won by Finland.

  Winner
R/O Country Artist Song Language[28] Points Place[30]
1   Switzerland six4one "If We All Give a Little" English 30 16
2  Moldova Arsenium feat. Natalia Gordienko and Connect-R "Loca" English[lower-alpha 2] 22 20
3  Israel Eddie Butler "Together We Are One" Hebrew, English 4 23
4  Latvia Vocal Group Cosmos "I Hear Your Heart" English 30 16
5  Norway Christine Guldbrandsen "Alvedansen" Norwegian 36 14
6  Spain Las Ketchup "Bloody Mary" Spanish 18 21
7  Malta Fabrizio Faniello "I Do" English 1 24
8  Germany Texas Lightning "No No Never" English 36 14
9  Denmark Sidsel Ben Semmane "Twist of Love" English 26 18
10  Russia Dima Bilan "Never Let You Go" English 248 2
11  Macedonia Elena Risteska "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) English, Macedonian 56 12
12  Romania Mihai Trăistariu "Tornerò" English, Italian 172 4
13  Bosnia and Herzegovina Hari Mata Hari "Lejla" Bosnian 229 3
14  Lithuania LT United "We Are the Winners" English[lower-alpha 4] 162 6
15  United Kingdom Daz Sampson "Teenage Life" English 25 19
16  Greece Anna Vissi "Everything" English 128 9
17  Finland Lordi "Hard Rock Hallelujah" English 292 1
18  Ukraine Tina Karol "Show Me Your Love" English 145 7
19  France Virginie Pouchain "Il était temps" French 5 22
20  Croatia Severina "Moja štikla" Croatian 56 12
21  Ireland Brian Kennedy "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" English 93 10
22  Sweden Carola "Invincible" English 170 5
23  Turkey Sibel Tüzün "Süper Star" Turkish, English[lower-alpha 3] 91 11
24  Armenia André "Without Your Love" English 129 8

Detailed voting results

Televoting was used in all nations except Monaco and Albania. Monaco used a jury as the chances of getting enough votes needed to validate the votes were low. Albania used a jury since there were problems with their televote. In the semi final, Monaco and Albania used the jury voting due to insufficient televoting numbers. Coincidentally, Albania and Monaco were two of the three countries that did not vote for the winning entry, the third one was Armenia.

Semi-final
Detailed voting results of the semi-final[31][32]
Voting procedure used:
  100% televoting
  100% jury vote
Total score
Slovenia
Andorra
Romania
Denmark
Latvia
Portugal
Sweden
Finland
Belgium
Croatia
Serbia and Montenegro
Norway
Estonia
Ireland
Malta
Lithuania
Cyprus
Netherlands
Switzerland
Ukraine
Russia
Poland
United Kingdom
Armenia
France
Belarus
Germany
Spain
Moldova
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Iceland
Monaco
Israel
Albania
Greece
Bulgaria
Macedonia
Turkey
Contestants
 Armenia 15023121212371233127712210310810
Bulgaria 3618458361
Slovenia 49167522273473
Andorra 88
Belarus 10163
Albania 58127310221357123
Belgium 6957325335721743246
Ireland 793544143166643212812751
Cyprus 5744137712104122
Monaco 143218
Macedonia 768181068101258
Poland 7031271821051324644322
Russia 21744711277623641048121011281212512461251254
Turkey 9110681108108123618
Ukraine 14626861022543366106101031035284327
Finland 2921010510881210108812101010765681212581210581278776
Netherlands 2224134125
Lithuania 1636534105487535812455410106162841642
Portugal 261277
Sweden 2147861251210544107812524443766547761086541
Estonia 28278515
Bosnia and Herzegovina 267121128261012612121216235812875456310187121106101012
Iceland 627136712752751611

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the semi-final:

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
9  Bosnia and Herzegovina Croatia,  Finland,  Monaco,  Norway,  Romania,  Serbia and Montenegro,  Slovenia,   Switzerland,  Turkey
8  Russia Armenia,  Belarus,  Bulgaria,  Israel,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Moldova,  Ukraine
6  Armenia Belgium,  Cyprus,  France,  Netherlands,  Russia,  Spain
 Finland Estonia,  Germany,  Iceland,  Poland,  Sweden,  United Kingdom
3  Sweden Denmark,  Malta,  Portugal
1  Albania Macedonia
 Cyprus Greece
 Lithuania Ireland
 Macedonia Albania
 Portugal Andorra
 Turkey Bosnia and Herzegovina

Final
Detailed voting results of the final[33][34]
Voting procedure used:
  100% televoting
  100% jury vote
Total score
Slovenia
Andorra
Romania
Denmark
Latvia
Portugal
Sweden
Finland
Belgium
Croatia
Serbia and Montenegro
Norway
Estonia
Ireland
Malta
Lithuania
Cyprus
Netherlands
Switzerland
Ukraine
Russia
Poland
United Kingdom
Armenia
France
Belarus
Germany
Spain
Moldova
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Iceland
Monaco
Israel
Albania
Greece
Bulgaria
Macedonia
Turkey
Contestants
 Switzerland 301123464
Moldova 221233211
Israel 44
Latvia 303484128
Norway 36162537113412
Spain 18126
Malta 11
Germany 363311337555
Denmark 2683618
Russia 2484682127712375310551282121011221267106512481085
Macedonia 56688478366
Romania 17253621066254446101101143647351212221027223
Bosnia and Herzegovina 2291278210106121282428121064564715312212671212
Lithuania 1623771043846358121465581061441073413
United Kingdom 252411228311
Greece 12811041106831255785281181274
Finland 292810412861281071212107105787812128710106712712567
Ukraine 145253512124251276110610103856265358
France 523
Croatia 56101062124102
Ireland 93142545542764643228314110
Sweden 1707851078753110776526274635623755101
Turkey 91671210312121017344
Armenia 12911227108125108387810810

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:

N. Contestant Nation(s) giving 12 points
8  Bosnia and Herzegovina Albania,  Croatia,  Macedonia,  Monaco,  Serbia and Montenegro,  Slovenia,   Switzerland,  Turkey
 Finland Denmark,  Estonia,  Greece,  Iceland,  Norway,  Poland,  Sweden,  United Kingdom
7  Russia Armenia,  Belarus,  Finland,  Israel,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Ukraine
3  Turkey France,  Germany,  Netherlands
2  Armenia Belgium,  Russia
 Greece Bulgaria,  Cyprus
 Romania Moldova,  Spain
1  Croatia Bosnia and Herzegovina
 Lithuania Ireland
 Moldova Romania
 Spain Andorra
  Switzerland Malta
 Ukraine Portugal

Spokespersons

The following people were the spokespersons for their countries. A spokesperson delivers the results of national televoting during the final night, awarding points to the entries on behalf of his or her country.[35] Although Serbia and Montenegro withdrew from the contest, it retained its voting rights.[29] A draw was held to determine each country's voting order. Countries revealed their votes in the following order:

  1.  Slovenia – Peter Poles
  2.  Andorra – Xavi Palma
  3.  Romania – Andreea Marin Bănică
  4.  Denmark – Jørgen de Mylius
  5.  Latvia – Mārtiņš Freimanis
  6.  Portugal – Cristina Alves
  7.  Sweden – Jovan Radomir
  8.  Finland – Nina Tapio
  9.  Belgium – Yasmine
  10.  Croatia – Mila Horvat
  11.  Serbia and Montenegro – Jovana Janković
  12.  Norway – Ingvild Helljesen
  13.  Estonia – Evelin Samuel
  14.  Ireland – Eimear Quinn
  15.  Malta – Moira Delia
  16.  Lithuania – Lavija Šurnaitė
  17.  Cyprus – Constantinos Christoforou
  18.  Netherlands – Paul de Leeuw
  19.   Switzerland – Jubaira Bachmann
  20.  Ukraine – Igor Posypayko
  21.  Russia – Yana Churikova
  22.  Poland – Maciej Orłoś
  23.  United Kingdom – Fearne Cotton
  24.  Armenia – Gohar Gasparyan
  25.  France – Sophie Jovillard
  26.  Belarus – Corrianna
  27.  Germany – Thomas Hermanns
  28.  Spain – Sonia Ferrer
  29.  Moldova – Svetlana Cocoş
  30.  Bosnia and Herzegovina – Vesna Andree Zaimović
  31.  Iceland – Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir
  32.  Monaco – Églantine Éméyé
  33.  Israel – Dana Herman
  34.  Albania – Leon Menkshi
  35.  Greece – Alexis Kostalas
  36.  Bulgaria – Dragomir Simeonov
  37.  Macedonia – Martin Vučić
  38.  Turkey – Meltem Ersan Yazgan

Other countries
  •  Austria – On 18 June 2005, Austrian newspaper Kurier reported that the Austrian broadcaster ORF would not be taking part in the 2006 contest.[36][37]
  •  Czech Republic – On 6 October 2005, Česká televize announced that the Czech Republic would not participate.[38] The country did make its debut the following year.
  •  Georgia – On 5 October 2005, the managing director of Georgia Television & Radio Broadcasting stated that Georgia would not enter the 2006 contest, however made its debut the year after.[39]
  •  Hungary – On 9 December 2005, Hungarian broadcaster Magyar TV announced that Hungary would not participate for financial reasons.[40]
  •  Serbia and Montenegro – Serbia and Montenegro withdrew from the contest due to a scandal in the selection process, which has caused tensions between the Serbian broadcaster, RTS, and the Montenegrin broadcaster, RTCG. Serbia and Montenegro did retain voting rights for the contest (which resulted in Macedonia entering the final instead of Poland). Serbia and Montenegro's withdrawal left a vacancy in the final. In the delegations meeting on 20 March, it was decided that Croatia, who finished 11th in the 2005 contest, would fill the empty spot.

Broadcasts

All participating broadcasters may choose to have on-site or remote commentators providing an insight about the show to their local audience and, while they must broadcast at least the semi-final they are voting in and the final, most broadcasters air all three shows with different programming plans. Similarly, some non-participating broadcasters may still want to air the contest. These are the broadcasters that have confirmed their broadcasting plans and/or their commentators:

Broadcasters and commentators in participating countries
Country Show(s) Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Albania All shows TVSH Leon Menkshi
 Andorra All shows ATV Meri Picart and Josep Lluís Trabal
 Armenia All shows Armenia 1 Gohar Gasparyan and Phelix Khachatryan
 Belarus All shows Belarus-1 Denis Dudinskiy [41]
 Belgium All shows één Dutch: André Vermeulen and Bart Peeters
La Une French: Jean-Pierre Hautier
Radio 2 Dutch: Michel Follet and Sven Pichal
La Première French: Patrick Duhamel and Thomas Gunzig
 Bosnia and Herzegovina All shows BHT 1 Dejan Kukrić [42]
 Bulgaria All shows Channel 1 Elena Rosberg and Georgi Kushvaliev
 Croatia All shows HRT Duško Ćurlić
 Cyprus Semi-final RIK 1 Evi Papamichail and Pampina Themistokleous
Final Evi Papamichail and Vasso Komninou
 Denmark All shows DR1 Mads Vangsø and Adam Duvå Hall
 Estonia All shows ETV Marko Reikop [43]
 Finland All shows YLE TV2 Finnish: Jaana Pelkonen, Heikki Paasonen and Asko Murtomäki
YLE FST5 Swedish: Thomas Lundin
YLE Radio Suomi Finnish: Sanna Kojo and Jorma Hietamäki [44]
 France Semi-final France 4 Peggy Olmi and Éric Jean-Jean
Final France 3 Michel Drucker and Claudy Siar
France Bleu Alexandre Devoise
 Germany All shows Das Erste Peter Urban [45]
Deutschlandfunk/NDR 2 Thomas Mohr
 Greece All shows ET1, NET Zeta Makripoulia and Giorgos Kapoutzidis [46]
Deftero Programma Maria Kozakou [47]
 Iceland All shows Sjónvarpið Sigmar Guðmundsson [48]
 Ireland Semi-final RTÉ Two Marty Whelan [49]
Final RTÉ One
Final RTÉ Radio 1 Larry Gogan
 Israel All shows Channel 1 No commentary
 Latvia All shows LTV Kārlis Streips
 Lithuania All shows LRT Darius Užkuraitis
 Macedonia All shows MRT Karolina Petkovska
 Malta All shows TVM Eileen Montesin
 Moldova All shows TVM Vitalie Rotaru
 Monaco All shows TMC Monte Carlo Bernard Montiel and Églantine Éméyé
 Netherlands All shows Nederland 2 Cornald Maas and Paul de Leeuw [50]
Radio 2 Ron Stoeltie
 Norway All shows NRK1 Jostein Pedersen [51]
 Poland All shows TVP1 Artur Orzech
 Portugal All shows RTP1 Eládio Clímaco
 Romania All shows TVR1 Andreea Demirgian
 Russia All shows Channel One Yuriy Aksyuta and Tatiana Godunova
 Slovenia All shows RTV SLO Mojca Mavec
 Spain All shows La Primera Beatriz Pécker
 Sweden All shows SVT1 Pekka Heino
SR P3 Carolina Norén and Björn Kjellman [52]
  Switzerland All shows SF zwei German: Sandra Studer
TSR 1 French: Jean-Marc Richard and Alain Morisod
TSI 2 Italian: Sandy Altermatt and Claudio Lazzarino
 Turkey All shows TRT 1 Bülend Özveren
 Ukraine All shows First National Pavlo Shylko
 United Kingdom Semi-final BBC Three Paddy O'Connell
Final BBC One Terry Wogan
BBC Radio 2 Ken Bruce
Broadcasters and commentators in non-participating countries
Country Show(s) Broadcaster(s) Commentator(s) Ref(s)
 Australia All shows SBS Unknown [53]
 Austria All shows ORF 2 Andi Knoll [54]
 Azerbaijan All shows İTV Unknown [55]
 Gibraltar Final GBC Unknown [56]
 Italy All shows Unknown [57]
 Serbia and Montenegro All shows RTS1 Serbian: Duška Vučinić-Lučić
TVCG 2 Montenegrin: Dražen Bauković and Tamara Ivanković

International broadcasts
  •  Australia – Although Australia was not itself eligible to enter, the semi-final and final were broadcast on SBS. As is the case each year, they were not however broadcast live due to the difference in Australian time zones. Australia aired the United Kingdom's broadcast, including commentary from Paddy O'Connell and Terry Wogan. Before the broadcasts, viewers were told by an SBS host that the Eurovision Song Contest was one of their most popular programmes. The final rated an estimated 462,000, and was ranked 21st of the broadcaster's top rating programs for the 2005/06 financial year.[53]
  •  Azerbaijan – Azerbaijan were willing to enter the contest but since AzTV applied for active EBU membership but was denied on June 18, 2007, they missed the contest and had to wait until they were accepted. Another Azerbaijan broadcaster, İctimai, broadcast the contest. It was a passive EBU member, and had broadcast it for the last 2 years. It was the only non-participating broadcaster this year to send its own commentators to the contest.[55]
  •  Gibraltar – Gibraltar screened only the final on GBC.[56]
  •  Italy – Italian television did not enter because RAI, the national broadcaster, is in strong competition with commercial TV stations and they believe that the Eurovision Song Contest would not be a popular show in Italy. They have not broadcast the contest in recent years, although an independent Italian channel for the gay community has shown it.[57]

A live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast worldwide by satellite through Eurovision streams such as Channel One Russia, ERT World, TVE Internacional, TVP Polonia, RTP Internacional and TVR i. The official Eurovision Song Contest website also provided a live stream without commentary using the peer-to-peer transport Octoshape.

Ratings

After the contest, EBU officials stated that the overall ratings for the Semi-Final were 35% higher than in 2005, and for the Final had risen by 28%.[58]

In France, average market shares reached 30.3%, up by 8% over the 2005 figure. Other countries that showed a rise in average market shares included Germany with 38% (up from 29%), United Kingdom with 37.5% (up from 36%), Spain with 36% (up from 35%), Ireland with 58% (up from 35%) and Sweden, which reached over 80% compared to 57% the year previously.[58]

Voting revenues had also risen from the Kyiv contest, and the official Eurovision website, www.eurovision.tv, reported visits from over 200 countries and over 98 million page views, compared with 85 million in 2005.

High-definition broadcast

Large parts of the final were filmed in high-definition to gather "artistic and scientific knowledge" for future contests, but the footage was never intended to be used as part of the original broadcast and was filmed as part of a research experiment carried by those including the EBU, host broadcaster ERT, the Institute for Broadcasting Technology in Munich, the research and development laboratories of RAI and the BBC. The footage was broadcast for the first time, as part of EurovisionAgain, on Eurovision's YouTube channel on 31 July 2021.[59]

Aftermath

ERT's net income from the Eurovision event amounted to 7,280,000 euros, while the cost of the entire event reached 5,500,000 euros, said on Thursday in a press conference the president of ERT, Christos Panagopoulos and the authorized consultant George Chouliaras, who stated: "The allegations about the waste of money of the Greek taxpayer do not apply. The Greek people did not pay a penny for the event. It was a commercial and profitable event and the money we spent was donor money".[58][60]

According to G. Chouliaras, the revenues that ERT had from the event were 3,630,000 euros from national sponsors, 2,200,000 euros from tickets and 1,450,000 euros from the share of international sponsors, advertising revenues outside sponsorships, sms, etc.[58][60]

Regarding the costs paid by ERT for the event together with the EBU, it amounted to a total of 9 million euros, of which 5.5 million euros were paid by ERT and 3.5 million euros by the EBU. These costs include the costs for the television production, the production of the artistic program, the technical production, the payment of contributions, the organization of the competition and any other direct costs related to the organization of Eurovision 2006. It is also noted that EOT paid for the production of 47 commercials and their promotion during the semifinals and the final 3.5 million euros.[58][60]

Spectacles and rewards

The president of ERT, Christos Panagopoulos, clarified, however, that the total cost does not include the shows that started in February for the advertising support of the event, for which he estimated that their cost will not exceed 1 million euros. He stated that in essence the net profit of ERT amounts to 745,000 euros, which will be allocated for other cultural events.[58]

It was also clarified that ERT did not pay anything to Anna Vissi, nor to Nikos Karvelas, as well as did not pay for the dress of Anna Vissi. Chouliaras stressed that all the participants of the event were paid at market prices and in particular Zeta Makrypoulia and Giorgos Kapoutzidis received 8-10 thousand euros per month for their four-month employment, Sakis Rouvas 50,000 euros and Maria Menounos 45,000 euros.[58][60]

It was also clarified that the costs of the "promotour" of Anna Vissi are included in the total cost and that from these the transfers were covered by Olympic Airlines and the hotels, the cost of which amounted to 150,000 euros, by the sponsors.[58]

Regarding the future, Giorgos Chouliaras noted that "ERT should have a dynamic participation in the next Eurovision Song Contests and not devalue the institution, since it is a television product watched by 3.5 million Greeks".[58]

Other awards

In addition to the main winner's trophy, the Marcel Bezençon Awards and the Barbara Dex Award were contested during the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest.

Marcel Bezençon Awards

The Marcel Bezençon Awards, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative Christer Björkman, and 1984 winner Richard Herrey, honours songs in the contest's final.[61] The awards are divided into three categories: Artistic Award which was voted by previous winners of the contest, Composer Award, and Press Award.[62]

Category Country Song Performer(s) Composer(s)
Artistic Award  Sweden "Invincible" Carola
Composer Award  Bosnia and Herzegovina "Lejla" Hari Mata Hari
  • Željko Joksimović
  • Fahrudin Pecikoza
  • Dejan Ivanović
Press Award  Finland "Hard Rock Hallelujah" Lordi Mr. Lordi

Barbara Dex Award

The Barbara Dex Award is a humorous fan award given to the worst dressed artist each year. Named after Belgium's representative who came last in the 1993 contest, wearing her self-designed dress, the award was handed by the fansite House of Eurovision from 1997 to 2016 and is being carried out by the fansite songfestival.be since 2017.

Country Performer(s)
 Portugal Nonstop

Official album
Cover art of the official album

Eurovision Song Contest: Athens 2006 was the official compilation album of the 2006 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by CMC International on 28 April 2006. The album featured all 37 songs that entered in the 2006 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.[63]

Charts
Chart (2006) Peak
position
German Compilation Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[64] 2

Notes
  1. Performance contains uncredited live vocals from O-Jay
  2. The song also contains words in Spanish.
  3. The song was performed entirely in Turkish in the semi-final, and with an English chorus in the final.
  4. The song also contains phrases in French.
  5. Following Serbia and Montenegro's withdrawal, Croatia took its place as an automatic qualifier.

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