After business as usual with rich media content for Eurovision fans, it came as a shock (to some) when they found the first rehearsals of the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy would be taking place behind closed doors. Those who hadn’t signalled entitled outrage first time around, took the chance to catch up. And on we rumbled.
TikTok – success or failure?
As a way of keeping in touch, TikTok hasn’t always worked this year. With the Chinese social platform on board as ‘Official Entertainment partner‘, the relationship will grow. But is it working? What seems to have happened is someone has decided they know what works on TikTok (and they’re probably right) as opposed to what works for fans of the show.
Eurovision tends not to attract casual viewers ahead of time, so I’d suggest the EBU has misunderstood how to serve the (significant minority) fan audience. You’ve only to look at the abject failure of the American spin-off show to see the Contest is more than a show with competing songs. There is a whole culture of fandom that lives to follow the show and build a buzz. The wrong-footed approach of TikTok offering ‘one second from each first rehearsal’ videos shows just how badly the brief has been misunderstood. I’m not saying don’t do it. I’m saying do it better. Think about the user, not the platform.
Going viral
One way to whip up interest online is to find a hook and exploit it. Say, for instance, your show includes vaguely raunchy dance moves. You could claim (with no need for pesky things like evidence) that you’ve been told to tame things down. You could encourage online dissent by standing firm on your supposed position – or throw every toy from your pram and bite back at all the nasty people online (and later delete your Tweet). Or you could tip up with a decent song, great performance and act like a true professional. Your call.
Express delivery
The UK ‘popular’ press has got wind of Konstrakta. Or to give the Serbian star her rightful title ‘Eurovision’s weirdest entry’. Admittedly, The Express has not so much produced an article as a lazy reprint of the translated lyric along with a quote from esteemed online Eurovision expert Noosh101. Konstrakta’s Eurovision song tackles the topic of media obsession with celebrity, and missing the point by a country mile, they go on to spin the article as the mutterings of a Meghan Markle obsessive. All publicity is good though, right?
Footnote time: Starved of a bit of cynical marketing the grand love story for our time that was Tix and Efendi last time around, some fans saw potential in the fact Ronela and WRS had dinner in the same Turin restaurant twice. In which case, I’m involved in a torrid tryst with Steve Coogan, having eaten a coronation chicken sandwich in his immediate vicinity on three separate occasions.