The Eurovision Song Contest remains by far the most popular TV show in Greece as this year's viewing figures prove once more. Although the numbers dropped slightly since last year, over 3.7 million viewers watched Giorgos Alkaios perform OPA on the Telenor Arena stage on Saturday night.

In a country with a population of a little less than 11 million people, it is certainly a great achievement for a show to be watched by approx. 3.763.000 viewers. The Eurovision Song Contest final was once more the most watched show in the country withits share peaking at72,5% when Giorgos Alkaios was on stage. The interest remained high throughout the show with an average audience of 3.119.000 viewers dropping slightly after the Greek song and rising again for the results.

The past decade has seen a sharp rise in TV ratings for the Eurovision Song Contest final in Greece. Whereas the contest used to be very popular in 1992 and 1993 with a share of 32,9 and 38,1 respectively, it gradually dropped to a mere 9,8% in 2000. Helena Paparizou's third place in 2001, though, gave the contest new life in the country. TV ratings rose to 24,3 that year only to double in 2002 when the share jumped to 50% and kept rising year after year. Eurovision achieved record viewing ratings in 2006 when it was hosted by ERT in Athens.

Below you can see the Eurovision Song Contest Final TV ratings in Greece year by year since 1992:

9/5/1992 32,9
15/5/1993 38,1
30/4/1994 19,9
13/5/1995 14,9
18/5/1996 16
3/5/1997 19,3
9/5/1998 16,4
29/5/1999 14,6
13/5/2000 9,8
12/5/200124,3
25/5/2002 50
24/5/2003 58,9
15/5/2004 75,5
21/5/2005 82,3
20/5/2006 82,6
12/5/2007 74,4
24/5/2008 78,8
16/5/2009 78,9
29/5/2010 72,5