Positive audience ratings were recorded for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. The European Broadcasting Union just reported that.

The two shows were broadcast live over the Eurovision network in over 40 countries across Europe and in Australia, where viewers watched Finland's Lordi win the 51st Eurovision Song Contest.

This year, the number of viewers for the semifinal were 35% higher than in 2005 and for the final, were up by 28%. On the night of the final, the market shares of the 37 broadcasters taking part in the Contest in Athens were over 30% higher than the regular Saturday night primetime averages recorded by broadcasters for 2005.

In France, average market shares reached 30,3%, up by 8% over last year's figure. Other countries that showed a rise in average market shares, include Germany with 38,7% (up from 29,8%), UK with 37,5% (up from 36,9%), Spain with 36% (up from 35,5%), Ireland with 58,3 % (up from 35,3%) and Sweden, which reached over 80% compared to 57,8% in 2005.

"As the figures show, millions of European viewers tune in to this unique event year after year, perhaps because the Eurovision Song Contest is a symbol of open-mindedness, as all participating countries are equal on the event's stage", said Svante Stockselius, EBU executive supervisor for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The official website eurovision.tv continues to be one of the world's most popular entertainment websites. Eurovision.tv received visits from over 200 countries, registered over 4,2 million on-demand streams (1,1 million more than in 2005) and more than 98 million page views, compared with 85 million in 2005.

Over 6,4 million calls and SMS votes were recorded during the 10-minute voting windows at the end of the shows, an increase of 23% compared to last year. Viewers from 38 countries across Europe were able to elect the winning song via the pan-European centralized televoting system, which was coordinated and especially developed for the contest by digame.de, a subsidiary of Dutch Twister Media Group B.V.