The Eurovision Song Contest remains popular in Australia. However, over the last few years viewership for the contest has gone down. Why?

Just available figures for the (tape delayed) broadcast of the final for this year's Eurovision Song Contest show that the audience numbers, which declined slightly in 2004, continue to do so. Here are the figures:

2005 1, 258, 000 viewers
2004 1, 341, 000 viewers
2003 1, 369, 000 viewers

Thus, nearly 100,000 fewer Australians watched this year's final.

This year also marks the first time in 3 years Terry Wogan's BBC commentary was used instead of someone Australian, a decision not without controversy. With increasing numbers of Eurovision fans Down Under watch the event stream lived over the Internet, should SBS consider an alternate format?