After finishing last with 4 points only, Germany's head of delegation, Jürgen Meier-Beer, put the selection format Germany 12 points into question and indicated it could be back to an internal selection in 2006. “The national final is not mandatory”, he said to press agency AFP in Kyiv.
This year, the German national final failed to attract established stars and thus earned a disastrous audience share and low media interest. After the devastating result in Kyiv, changes are to be made. “There are some well-known artists who are saying: I would go to the European final, but I do not treat myself to the preselection”, Meier-Beer said. No decisions have been made yet, but it could mean back to an internal selection for Germany.
The final of the Eurovision Song Contest attracted 7 million viewers in Germany, which is remarkably less than the 11 million viewers of 2004, but still secured ARD a market share of 29.8%. The final in Kyiv especially attracted younger viewers (39.2% share of the viewers between 14 and 29 years) and received good reviews in the German media for the remarkable “musical quality and professionalism of the participants”, as press agency dpa put it.
Gracia was obviously disappointed but tried to took her last place sportsmanlike. “Only one can win and one has to become last”, she said in a first interview. “We gave everything we could. I think we represented Germany in a way that we still can come back home with proud”. Song Contest veteran Joy Fleming, who finished last but one for Germany 30 years ago, tried to cheer up Gracia with pointing out that her career went on afterwards and her song Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein still became a fan classic despite its poor result.
Meanwhile, Eurovision winner Helena Paparizou's record company Sony BMG has announced that My number one will be in stores in Germany as of Monday, 30 May 2005.
