(see related) The 2024 Sanremo Song Festival ended with a bang on Saturday night, attracting an average of 14.301 million viewers to State broadcaster Rai's flagship Rai1 channel on the final night, in which Angelina Mango was proclaimed the winner.
The was 74.1% of the overall TV audience, the highest audience share on the final night since the 1995 festival presented by Pippo Baudo got 75.22%.
It was up from 12.256 million viewers, 66% of the audience, last year.
The 74th Sanremo Festival, the fifth presented by artistic director Amadeus, got big viewing figures every night since its started on Tuesday, confirming its popularity and status as a national institution and its importance as a platform for Italian music artists.
Mango, 22, will represent Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest thanks to the triumph.
So the 2024 festival will go down as a success, with some moments of controversy doing nothing to dent public interest and perhaps even increasing it.
These included Amadeus and comedian Fiorello getting JohnTravolta to do the fad Chicken Dance during a guest star appearance.
Some fans protested that the 71-year-old Saturday Night Fever, Grease and Pulp Fiction star had been humiliated and Fiorello subsequently admitted that it had been "one of the most terrible gags in the history of TV".
Furthermore, Rai has said it is running legal checks for possible unauthorized product placement after Travolta appeared on stage at the Ariston Theater wearing a noted brand of trainers whose logo had not been pixellated out.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA