Spain’s participation in Eurovision 2023 was a real failure. The song ‘Eaea’ performed by Blanca Paloma obtained a discreet 17th place in the contest, which was a tremendous disappointment for Spanish ‘eurofans’.
Since 2011, RTVE’s transparency department has published the total cost that Spain’s participation in this event entails for the corporation. As published by the ESCplus portal, the public channel spent a total of €810,978.22 on Eurovision 2023.
This expense represents an increase of 21.26% compared to 2022 and an absolute record for the public corporation since there are records. According to the budget published on the channel, this pronounced increase is mainly due to the growth in the cost of retransmission rights, which for the 2023 edition rose by 15.07%.
It must be taken into account that both Eurovision and the Benidorm Fest are two of the star events of RTVE’s programming throughout the year, also in terms of audience.
Without going any further, the grand final marked a 39.7% share or bringing together 4.8 million Spaniards awaiting the performance of Blanca Paloma. Thus, La 1 led the day with a 21.1% share of the screen. Almost 13 million viewers (12,821,000) watched the final at some point
In the year 2023, RTVE’s investment in the festival held in Liverpool and its pre-selection event has risen to €4,880,306.22, which is the highest expenditure since data is available.
If we add the disbursement in Eurovision and Benidorm Fest, the increase in total spending is 37.39%, although it is true that the second edition of the event held on the Costa Blanca was divided into two galas, while the first was only a program. For this reason, 89.29% of the increase in investment is due to the pre-selection festival organized by the public corporation.
