The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) shows from a German point of view how things can be glossed over. Lord Of The Lost ends up in last place with a miserable result. However, since the ratings are passable, the Norddeutscher Rundfunk, which is in charge of the ESC broadcast on ARD, sets up a jubilant message.

7.446 million watched the four-hour live broadcast of the ESC final from Liverpool on Saturday evening, according to NDR. This corresponded to a market share of 35.8 percent. The market share was particularly high among 14- to 29-year-olds. In the age group, it was 66.9 percent in the first. In absolute numbers, it looks less impressive: 970,000 spectators. An average of 512,000 viewers watched the demise of the German ESC entry "Blood and Glitter" on ARD's special interest channel One. That makes a total of 7.958 million viewers on linear television.

"At its peak", 9.617 million people would have tuned in. The live streams of the final in the ARD media library and on eurovision.de received 958,000 hits. The broadcasts in the first before and after the finale, "ESC - the Countdown" and "ESC - the Aftershow" came to a modest 3.714 and 2.75 million viewers, respectively.

By way of comparison, ARD brings in an average of seven to ten million viewers with a "Tatort" on Sunday evening, and 12 to 14 million viewers with the edition from Münster. The most-watched broadcast last year was the broadcast of the final of the Women's European Football Championship with 17.9 million viewers.

"Joy about the unbelievably beautiful event"

"The result is a pity, of course, but the joy about the incredibly beautiful event outweighs the disappointment," the band Lord Of The Lost is quoted as saying. "We got to be on one of the biggest stages in the world, we got to fulfill a childhood dream and we got to meet so many wonderful people; and nothing in the world can spoil this experience for us. We as a band don't come out of nowhere and we don't go into nowhere - we pick up where we stopped briefly before Eurovision: We are going on tour with Iron Maiden for a second time and are looking forward to an international festival summer and many sold-out shows of our own. We would like to thank the audience in Germany for their trust in us. We are still proud of that."

Andreas Gerling, the head of the ARD team for the ESC at NDR, initially adheres to the winner in the broadcaster's message: "Congratulations to Loreen from Sweden! An absolutely deserved victory! And the show was, without exaggeration, sensational. Thanks to the BBC for hosting it and to the City of Liverpool. They all thrilled us as hosts."

"Started with an extraordinary act"

For Lord Of The Lost, Gerling has comforting words left, strictly following the ARD tradition of considering the miserable performance of the German contribution to be somehow inexplicable. "We started with an extraordinary act that didn't achieve the result we wanted at all," Gerling said.

"This is very, very disappointing and sobering. In the selection process, we focused on expanding the musical genres. We must and will now face up to the discussion and consideration as to why this title did not catch on at the ESC." He would like to thank "Lord Of The Lost, who enthusiastically embarked on this unusual ESC adventure with us."

The ESC representative also thanked the presenter Peter Urban, who commented on the music competition for two and a half decades and is now stepping down: "Thank you Peter for 25 years!"