Second semi-final tonight, Thursday, May 9, for theEurovision Song Contest 2024. An absolute novelty of the 68th edition is the introduction of the full performance in the semi-finals also for the “Big Five” – ​​​​Italy, Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom – despite the fact that they have already qualified for the final. , together with the outgoing winner Sweden. The race, therefore, towards the Eurovision final continues after the passage of the round in the first semi-final of Serbia, Portugal, Slovenia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Finland, Cyprus, Croatia, Ireland and Luxembourg. Great involvement of Italy with an increase in the audience (1 million 912 thousand viewers, equal to 9.4% share). For the second semi-final Angelina Mango makes her stage debutItalian representative which presents for the first time to the European public the song “La noia”.new winner of the Sanremo Festival and candidate for a headliner competition.
The evaluations
The first semi-final recorded the second highest audience of the evening among the nine generalist networks, despite the fact that Italy was not called to televote in this episode, unlike the last edition. The group of women between 15 and 24 years registered the greatest increase with 4.4 points more share and that of men between 35 and 44 years with 3 points more. Followed by women between 25 and 34 years old, with 2.6 points more. The peak audience was 2 million 425 thousand viewers and the share was 13.6%. The age of those watching the show has also dropped: 1.3 years less for an overall average age of 52.9 years.
The second semi-final: where to watch, time, how to vote
Today at 21:00 on Rai 2, therefore, the proven couple of hosts Gabriele Corsi and Mara Maionchi present the second semi-final to discover the other nations that will complete the list of finalists for the final on Saturday, May 11. The evening will be preceded by a preview at 8:15 p.m., also on Rai 2, during which Gabriele Corsi will offer the public a journey back to the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, with curiosities and exclusive interviews. The second semi-final will also be broadcast live on radio and video on Rai Radio2 (digital terrestrial channel 202 and TivùSat), presented by Diletta Parlangeli and Matteo Osso. The couple will give space to great international music, behind the scenes and talk about the competition of the semi-finalists. Rai Pubblica Utilità will subtitle and describe the audio for the live broadcast, also available for streaming on RaiPlay and broadcast worldwide thanks to Rai Italia.
The Italian public will be able to vote in the semi-finals and in the final, but it will not be possible to vote for Italy, nor for France and Spain, which are qualified as the Italian representatives. Only ten countries for each semi-final will be admitted to the final on Saturday, May 11, broadcast at 21:00 on Rai 1. During the final, a super jury of five members will enter the game in each country.
The second semi-final: the intervals
The promo before the middle of the evening will be “The Biggest Choir in the World”, in which the three Eurovision winners, Charlotte Perrelli (Sweden 1999), Sertab Erener (Turkey 2003) and Helena Paparizou (Greece 2005), they will perform songs of their triumph together with the public present in the arena and those connected from all over the world. The second intermission number, “We Just Love Eurovision”, will be a tongue-in-cheek response to those who criticized Sweden’s victory last year, instead of supporting Finland with their “Cha ChaCha”. An “Et si” will illustrate with a small choreography what would have been the Finnish victory, with the participation of Käärijä himself, who will then be “awakened” by this dream of Petra Mede: a comic number in a musical style performed by Petra. Mede herself, in line with what he did in 2013 dancing with Pippi Longstocking and the giant meatballs, and in 2016 with the beautiful song “Love Love Peace Peace” which illustrated how to compose the ideal song for the Eurovision.
Calling Thursday’s episode will be the Herreys, the old group of boys with golden shoes who in 1984 led Sweden to its second Eurovision affirmation after Abba, and who are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the triumph of his “Diggy-loo Diggy-ley.” For Italy that year there were Alice and Franco Battiato with “I treni di Tozeur”.