Eurovision Song Contest 2024
Eurovision Song Contest 2024 | |
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United by Music | |
Dates | |
Semi-final 1 | 7 May 2024 |
Semi-final 2 | 9 May 2024 |
Final | 11 May 2024 |
Host | |
Venue | Malmö Arena Malmö, Sweden |
Presenter(s) | |
Directed by |
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Executive supervisor | Martin Österdahl |
Executive producer |
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Host broadcaster | Sveriges Television (SVT) |
Website | eurovision |
Participants | |
Number of entries | 37 |
Number of finalists | 26 |
Debuting countries | None |
Returning countries | Luxembourg |
Non-returning countries | Romania |
Participation map
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Vote | |
Voting system | Each country awards one set in the semi-finals, and two sets in the final, of 12, 10, 8–1 points to ten songs. In all three shows, online votes from viewers in non-participating countries are aggregated and awarded as one set of points. |
The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 is set to be the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It is scheduled to take place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the 2023 contest with the song "Tattoo" by Loreen. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT), the contest will be held at the Malmö Arena, and will consist of two semi-finals on 7 and 9 May, and a final on 11 May 2024. The three live shows will be presented by Petra Mede and Malin Åkerman, with the former having previously taken on the role in 2013 and 2016.
Thirty-seven countries will participate in the contest, with Luxembourg returning 31 years after its last participation in 1993, while Romania opted not to participate after doing so the previous year.
Location
The 2024 contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the 2023 edition with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen. It will be the seventh time Sweden hosts the contest, having previously done so in 1975, 1985, 1992, 2000, 2013, and 2016. The selected venue is the 15,500-seat Malmö Arena, the second largest multi-purpose indoor arena in Sweden, which serves as a venue for handball and floorball matches, concerts, and a diversity of other events, noted for having already hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013. Malmö Live will accommodate the "Turquoise Carpet" event, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before accredited press and fans, as well as the opening and closing ceremonies; the venue will also offer screenings of the final.
The host city also organises side events in conjunction with the contest. Folkets Park will be the location of the Eurovision Village, which will host performances by contest participants and local artists, as well as screenings of the live shows for the general public and the OGAE Euro Fan Café at Moriska paviljongen. Malmö Live will be the location of the EuroClub, which will host the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. A "Eurovision Street" will also be established in Friisgatan, between Folkets Park and Triangeln.
Bidding phase
Immediately after Sweden's win in the 2023 contest, the first cities to voice their interest in hosting the 2024 edition were Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, the three largest cities in the country as well as the ones to have previously hosted the contest. Besides these, a number of other cities also expressed their intention to bid in the days that followed the 2023 victory, namely Eskilstuna, Jönköping, Örnsköldsvik, Partille and Sandviken.
SVT set a deadline of 12 June 2023 for interested cities to formally apply. Stockholm and Gothenburg officially announced their bids on 7 and 10 June respectively, followed by Malmö and Örnsköldsvik on 13 June. Shortly before the closing of the application period, SVT revealed that it had received several bids, later clarifying that they had come from these four cities. Prior to this announcement, Sandviken and Jönköping had already declared to have opted out. On 7 July, Gothenburg and Örnsköldsvik's bids were reported to have been eliminated. Later that day, the EBU and SVT announced Malmö as the host city.
Key:
† Host city
* Shortlisted
^ Submitted a bid
City | Venue | Notes | Ref(s). |
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Eskilstuna | Stiga Sports Arena | Hosted the Second Chance round of Melodifestivalen in 2020. Did not meet the EBU requirements of capacity. | |
Gothenburg^ | Scandinavium | Hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1985. Roof needed adjustments for the lighting equipment. Set for demolition after the construction of a new sports facility nearby is completed. | |
Jönköping | Husqvarna Garden | Hosted the heats of Melodifestivalen in 2007. Did not meet the EBU requirements of capacity. | |
Malmö† | Malmö Arena | Hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2013. | |
Örnsköldsvik^ | Hägglunds Arena | Hosted the heats of Melodifestivalen in 2007, 2010, 2014, 2018 and the semi-final in 2023. | |
Partille | Partille Arena | Hosted Eurovision Choir 2019. Did not meet the EBU requirements of capacity. | |
Sandviken | Göransson Arena | Hosted one heat of Melodifestivalen in 2010. Plans included the cooperation of other municipalities in Gävleborg. | |
Stockholm* | Friends Arena | Hosted all but one final of Melodifestivalen since 2013. Preferred venue of the Stockholm City Council. | |
Tele2 Arena | — | ||
Temporary arena | Proposal set around building a temporary arena in Frihamnen | , motivated by the production needs of the contest and difficulties in finding vacant venues during the required weeks.
Participating countries
Eurovision Song Contest 2024 – Participation summaries by country | |
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Eligibility for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with an active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issues invitations to participate in the contest to all members.
On 5 December 2023, the EBU announced that 37 countries would participate in the 2024 contest. Luxembourg is set to return to the contest 31 years after its last participation in 1993, while Romania, which had participated in the 2023 contest, was provisionally announced as not participating in 2024; this was subsequently confirmed on 25 January 2024.
The contest is set to feature two returning artists: Natalia Barbu and Hera Björk, who previously represented Moldova in 2007 and Iceland in 2010, respectively.
Other countries
Active EBU member broadcasters in Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Monaco and Slovakia confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. For financial reasons, Romania was not included in the list of participants published on 5 December 2023, but its broadcaster TVR remained in talks with the EBU beyond the deadline regarding its participation; on 25 January 2024, TVR ultimately opted not to participate in 2024.
Production
The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will be produced by the Swedish national broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT). The core team will consist of Ebba Adielsson as executive producer, Christel Tholse Willers as deputy executive producer, Tobias Åberg as executive in charge of production, Johan Bernhagen as executive line producer, Christer Björkman as contest producer, and Per Blankens as TV producer. Additional production personnel will include head of production David Wessén, head of legal Mats Lindgren, head of media Madeleine Sinding-Larsen, and executive assistant Linnea Lopez. Edward af Sillén and Daniel Réhn will write the script for the live shows' hosting segments and the opening and interval acts, while Robin Hofwander, Daniel Jelinek and Fredrik Bäcklund will serve as multi-camera directors. A majority of the production personnel for 2024 previously worked in the previous three editions of the contest held in Sweden: 2000, 2013 and 2016.
Malmö Municipality will contribute 30 million SEK (approximately €2.5 million) to the budget of the contest.
Slogan and visual design
On 14 November 2023, the EBU announced that "United by Music", the slogan of the 2023 contest, would be retained for 2024 and future editions. The accompanying theme art for 2024, named "The Eurovision Lights", was unveiled on 14 December. Designed by Stockholm-based agencies Uncut and Bold Scandinavia, it is based on simple, linear gradients inspired by vertical lines found on auroras and sound equalisers, and was built with adaptability across different formats taken into account.
Stage design
The stage design for the 2024 contest was devised by German production designer Florian Wieder, who had previously designed the sets of six previous contests; the most recent being in 2021. Lighting and screen content will be organised by Swedish designer Fredrik Stormby. The stage will feature movable LED cubes and floors along with other lighting, video and stagecraft technology, all set around a cross-shaped centre, with the aim of "creating a unique 360-degree experience" for viewers.
Postcards
The "postcards" are short video introductions shown on television whilst the stage is being prepared for the next entry. Filming began in February 2024.
Presenters
Swedish comedian and television host Petra Mede and Swedish-American actress Malin Åkerman were announced as the presenters of the 2024 contest on 5 February 2024. Mede had previously hosted both the 2013 and 2016 editions (solo and with Måns Zelmerlöw, respectively), as well as the 2015 special anniversary programme Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits alongside Graham Norton.
Guest acts
In March 2024, Sertab Erener (2003 winner for Turkey) stated that she had been invited to the 2024 contest to perform a ballad version of her winning entry "Everyway That I Can" alongside Sena Şener as an interval act in one of the shows.
Format
Semi-final allocation draw
The draw to determine the participating countries' semi-finals took place on 30 January 2024 at 19:00 CET, at the Malmö City Hall . The thirty-one semi-finalists were divided over five pots, based on historical voting patterns, with the purpose of reducing the chance of bloc voting and increasing suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final each of the six automatic qualifiers – host country Sweden and "Big Five" countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) – would vote in and be required to broadcast. The ceremony was hosted by Pernilla Månsson Colt and Farah Abadi, and included the passing of the host city insignia from Steve Rotheram, the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region and representative of previous host city Liverpool, to Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, the mayor of Malmö Municipality.
With the approval from the contest's reference group, Israel was allocated to the second semi-final following a request from Israeli broadcaster Kan, as the rehearsal date for the first semi-final coincided with Yom HaShoah.
Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 | Pot 4 | Pot 5 |
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Format changes
A number of changes to the format of the contest were proposed and/or considered for the 2024 edition. The first discussions on the matter took place at the annual Eurovision Song Contest Workshop, held at the Meistersaal in Berlin, Germany, on 12 September 2023. Decisions as to whether and what changes would be applied were up to the contest's reference group.
Voting system and contest structure
After the outcome of the 2023 contest, which saw Sweden win despite Finland's lead in the televoting, sparked controversy among the audience, Norwegian broadcaster NRK began discussions with the EBU regarding a potential revision of the jury voting procedure; it was noted that Norwegian entries in recent years had also been penalised by the juries, particularly in 2019 and 2023, when the country finished in sixth and fifth place overall, respectively, despite coming first in 2019 and third in 2023 with the televote. In an interview, the Norwegian head of delegation Stig Karlsen discussed the idea of reducing the jury's weight on the final score from the current 49.4% to 40% or 30%. No changes to the voting system were ultimately implemented.
For 2024, the "Rest of the World" voting window will be open for 24 hours before each show as well as during each show. For participating countries, it will be open after the last song is performed – as in previous years – in the semi-finals, while in the final it will be opened just before the first performance and will close 25 minutes after the last performance.
Host broadcaster SVT initially planned to reduce the runtime of the final by approximately an hour, as it had significantly increased since the introduction of features such as the opening flag parade in 2013 and the split jury/televote system in 2016; however, scriptwriter Edward af Sillén ultimately explained that this was no longer a priority and that the show would be a maximum of five minutes shorter.
Other proposed changes
At the Edinburgh TV Festival in August 2023, the EBU's deputy director-general Jean-Philip de Tender discussed the possibility of banning AI-generated content from the contest in order to preserve human contribution, maintaining that "creativity should come from humans and not from machines". However, Sammarinese broadcaster SMRTV launched a collaboration with London-based AI startup Casperaki as part of its national selection process for 2024, openly allowing entries to be created with the help of artificial intelligence.
In late September 2023, Carolina Norén, Sveriges Radio's commentator for the contest, revealed that she had resumed talks with executive supervisor Martin Österdahl concerning the qualification system; Norén suggested reviewing the rule whereby the "Big Five" countries directly qualify for the final, proposing to restrict it to only the previous winner and host country, and to require the "Big Five" to compete in the semi-finals. On 11 March 2024, the automatic qualifiers were confirmed to perform their entries in full during the semi-finals, in between the competing acts.
Contest overview
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final will take place on 7 May 2024 at 21:00 CEST and feature fifteen competing countries. Those countries plus Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" vote, will vote in this semi-final. Additionally, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom will perform their entries in between the competing acts.
Draw | Country | Artist | Song |
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1st half | Croatia | Baby Lasagna | "Rim Tim Tagi Dim" |
Cyprus | Silia Kapsis | "Liar" | |
Ireland | Bambie Thug | "Doomsday Blue" | |
Lithuania | Silvester Belt | "Luktelk" | |
Poland | Luna | "The Tower" | |
Serbia | Teya Dora | "Ramonda" | |
Ukraine | Alyona Alyona and Jerry Heil | "Teresa & Maria" | |
2nd half | Australia | Electric Fields | "One Milkali (One Blood)" |
Azerbaijan | Fahree feat. Ilkin Dovlatov | "Özünlə apar" | |
Finland | Windows95man | "No Rules!" | |
Iceland | Hera Björk | "Scared of Heights" | |
Luxembourg | Tali | "Fighter" | |
Moldova | Natalia Barbu | "In the Middle" | |
Portugal | Iolanda | "Grito" | |
Slovenia | Raiven | "Veronika" |
Semi-final 2
The second semi-final will take place on 9 May 2024 at 21:00 CEST and feature sixteen competing countries. Those countries plus France, Italy and Spain, as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" vote, will vote in this semi-final. Additionally, France, Italy, and Spain will perform their entries in between the competing acts.
Draw | Country | Artist | Song |
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1st half | Albania | Besa | "Titan" |
Armenia | Ladaniva | "Jako" | |
Austria | Kaleen | "We Will Rave" | |
Czechia | Aiko | "Pedestal" | |
Denmark | Saba | "Sand" | |
Greece | Marina Satti | "Zari" | |
Malta | Sarah Bonnici | "Loop" | |
Switzerland | Nemo | "The Code" | |
2nd half | Belgium | Mustii | "Before the Party's Over" |
Estonia | 5miinust and Puuluup | "(Nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi" | |
Georgia | Nutsa Buzaladze | "Firefighter" | |
Israel | Eden Golan | "Hurricane" | |
Latvia | Dons | "Hollow" | |
Netherlands | Joost Klein | "Europapa" | |
Norway | Gåte | "Ulveham" | |
San Marino | Megara | "11:11" |
Final
The final will take place on 11 May 2024 at 21:00 CEST and feature twenty-six countries, composed of the host country Sweden, the "Big Five", and the ten best-ranked entries of each of the two semi-finals. All thirty-seven participating countries with jury and televote, as well as non-participating countries under an aggregated "Rest of the World" online vote, will vote in the final.
Draw | Country | Artist | Song |
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1 | Sweden | Marcus & Martinus | "Unforgettable" |
TBD | France | Slimane | "Mon amour" |
Germany | Isaak | "Always on the Run" | |
Italy | Angelina Mango | "La noia" | |
Spain | Nebulossa | "Zorra" | |
United Kingdom | Olly Alexander | "Dizzy" | |
TBD 7 May 2024; 10 best ranked of semi-final 1 | |||
TBD 9 May 2024; 10 best ranked of semi-final 2 |
Broadcasts
All participating broadcasters may choose to have on-site or remote commentators providing insight and voting information to their local audience. While they must broadcast at least the semi-final they are voting in and the final, most broadcasters air all three shows with different programming plans. In addition, some non-participating broadcasters air the contest. The Eurovision Song Contest YouTube channel provides international live streams with no commentary of all shows.
The following are the broadcasters that have confirmed in whole or in part their broadcasting plans and/or commentators:
Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Show(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref(s) |
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Australia | SBS | SBS | All shows | Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey | |
Austria | ORF | ORF 1 | Final | TBA | |
Denmark | DR | TBA | Ole Tøpholm | ||
France | France Télévisions | France 2 | Final | TBA | |
Germany | ARD/NDR | One | Semi-finals | ||
Das Erste | Final | ||||
Greece | ERT | TBA | Thanasis Alevras | and Jérôme Kaluta||
Israel | IPBC | Asaf Liberman | , Akiva Novick and Yoav Tzafir|||
Italy | RAI | Rai 2 | Semi-finals | Gabriele CorsiMara Maionchi | and|
Rai 1 | Final | ||||
Rai Radio 2 | All shows | TBA | |||
Luxembourg | RTL | RTL | All shows | ||
Netherlands | NPO/AVROTROS | TBA | All shows | Cornald Maas and Jacqueline Govaert | |
Poland | TVP | TBA | Artur Orzech | ||
Ukraine | Suspilne | Suspilne Kultura | TBA | ||
Radio Promin | |||||
United Kingdom | BBC | BBC One | Semi-finals | TBA | |
Final | Graham Norton |
Country | Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Show(s) | Commentator(s) | Ref(s) |
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Montenegro | RTCG | TBA | |||
North Macedonia | MRT |
Controversies
Israeli participation
Since the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war on 7 October 2023, calls have been made for Israel to be excluded from the contest on the grounds of the humanitarian crisis resulting from Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip; this has included protests and petitions directed at national broadcasters in a number of participating countries, notably in Finland, Iceland and Norway, demanding that they withdraw or pressure the EBU to exclude Israel. The Icelandic broadcaster RÚV opted to decide over its participation on 11 March 2024, at the meeting among the heads of delegations of participating broadcasters, ultimately confirming its presence. As of March 2024,[update] no other broadcaster has indicated its overt opposition to Israeli participation; however, in response to public calls in Slovenia, the country's broadcaster RTVSLO has asked the EBU to hold extensive discussions with its members over the issue. In November 2023, the production team at SVT stated its intention to increase security measures and to keep in contact with Malmö's police authority during the contest, citing the risk of potential terrorist attacks as a spillover of the war.
In late February 2024, multiple Israeli media reports stated that two songs had been shortlisted for consideration as the Israeli entry for the 2024 contest, titled "October Rain" and "Dance Forever", and that both had been submitted to the EBU for evaluation but were rejected for containing political lyrics. Israeli broadcaster IPBC/Kan confirmed these reports on 3 March, while also stating that it asked the writers of both songs to "make the necessary adjustments" in order for them to be eligible. The selected song, titled "Hurricane", was approved by the EBU on 7 March and revealed three days later.
Protest actions
A number of national selection events were disrupted by activists calling for a boycott in the lead-up to the contest. These included the first semi-final of Norway's Melodi Grand Prix, which saw a protester breaking on stage during the broadcast; the second heat of Sweden's Melodifestivalen, which saw two audience members briefly shown wearing watermelon costumes and holding up placards calling for attention to the targeting of Palestinian children during the war; and selection events in Denmark and Finland, which were targeted by demonstrators outside the venues calling for a boycott. Additionally, on 11 March 2024, the digital signage installed at Malmö Live in preparation for the contest was splattered in red paint, and its base was spray-painted with the words "Free Gaza".
Malmö police has reportedly received three requests for protests to be organised as of 13 March 2024:[update] one against Israeli participation in the contest, planned to include 10,000 people in a walk from Stortorget to Möllevångstorget ; another one against the war in Gaza, to be organised outside Malmö Arena; and one to show support to the Israeli Eurovision delegation.