Eurovision News 
Youth Audiences Drive Record Digital and TV Growth for Junior Eurovision 2026
The 24th Junior Eurovision Song Contest proved hugely popular with young audiences across the globe, setting a new live streaming record on YouTube Kids while demonstrating strong growth across all official digital channels.
Broadcast live on Saturday, 24 October from the Malta Fairs & Conventions Centre in Ta’ Qali under the slogan ‘United By Music’, the competition featured young performers from 16 countries and was hosted by Maltese broadcaster PBS.
Armenia Takes the Crown
An average of 3.3 million viewers tuned in on TV as 13-year-old Naré brought home Armenia’s third Junior Eurovision victory with her song “BOO!” for EBU Member AMPTV.
The broadcast reached 11 million viewers across 11 measured markets. Among children aged 4 to 14, the show registered a 12.5% viewing share—more than double the standard channel average of 5.6%. It also performed strongly among older teens and young adults (ages 15 to 24), drawing a 6% viewing share compared to the typical 4% channel average.
TV Performance by Market
Across the 11 measured television markets, the contest averaged a 5.5% viewing share, outperforming normal channel averages in 8 out of the 11 markets:
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Poland: Led overall TV viewership with an average audience of 1.5 million (up 361,000 year-on-year) and achieved the highest viewing share at 15.7%—more than double the channel’s typical slot performance.
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Spain: Followed with 1.2 million viewers (an increase of 521,000 on last year) and a 12% viewing share (up 48% year-on-year).
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France & Georgia: France recorded 253,000 viewers, while Georgia achieved a 9% viewing share.
Record Breakouts on YouTube Kids & Twitch
Digital channels experienced explosive growth, particularly among young teenage demographics:
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YouTube Kids Live Stream: Set a new peak concurrent viewership record of just over 134,000 viewers (+32% compared to Tbilisi 2025). The 13–17 age demographic nearly doubled, climbing from 7.7% in 2025 to 14.6% in 2026. Poland generated the largest international view share (18%), followed by Armenia (15.1%), Ukraine (9.7%),Spain (7.7%), and Germany (4.5%).
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Overall YouTube Engagement: Total content views on YouTube Kids surged 68.8% year-on-year. YouTube Shorts skyrocketed by 414%, music videos/performances grew by 19.4%, and dedicated livestreams—including Junior Non-Stop Hits, which drew over 250,000 unique viewers—more than doubled (+103.4%). The official channel expanded to 1.25 million subscribers (+18.5%).
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Twitch: The live show stream reached 355,431 unique viewers (+6.6% on 2025), driven primarily by audiences in the United States, Poland, Germany, France, and Brazil.
Expanding Online Reach
Across YouTube Kids, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch, official Junior Eurovision content generated 231.1 million total views, marking a 9% increase over 2025. Social media following saw solid gains across platforms, with TikTok reaching 376,500 followers (+27.7%), Facebook growing to 246,500 (+13.5%), and Instagram reaching 233,700 (+8.5%). Additionally, the newly launched official website attracted 1.1 million active users, led by visitors from Poland,Spain, Armenia, the UK, and the US.
Junior Eurovision Song Contest Director Martin Green CBE praised the turnout:
“The Junior Eurovision Song Contest has always been about bringing young people together, and these results show that our slogan, United by Music, is more than words. Whether children and teens were watching on TV, streaming on YouTube Kids, or joining in on TikTok and Twitch, they were part of the same celebration… Seeing our youngest audiences grow on so many platforms tells us that the Contest speaks to them wherever they are.”
Details regarding the host broadcaster for the 25th anniversary edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2027 will be announced in due course.
