Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
With today’s news about the format of the Semi Finals and the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest, Ben Robertson and Ewan Spence talk about the key points and how they will impact the performers, the production team, and the public.
Eurovision Chat Over Coffee, Discussing Malmö’s Eurovision Changes
Voting from the first Grand Final Song, the automatic qualifiers perform live in the Semi Finals, the Rest Of The World gets more time to vote, and more, all discussed over a coffee.
Discover more about the Eurovision Song Contest ahead of May’s show by listening to the ESC Insight podcasts. You’ll find the show on iTunes, Google Podcasts, and Spotify. A direct RSS feed is available. We also have a regular email newsletter, which you can sign up for here.
I have no problems with these changes.
If they work, it is fine.
If they don’t work, they can be revised.
1 thing about the voting changes during the final – If this means we have a shorter voting window, after all the songs were played and therefore a shorter interval act and a shorter show, then this change is most welcomed.
If however, they are going to keep the long voting window after all the songs werenplayed, then this change is useless.
Given SVT’s scriptwriter has said that at most the sow is shortened by five minutes, I think the long window stays. Let’s not forget some broadcasters rely on the voting income to put on a bigger show (we talked abotu this with the Estonian delegation previously).
Beyond the talks about the 2nd screen experience or audience participation, comes the reality that the change in the voting is a way to have more revenue for the broadcasters.
2013 and 2014 were 2 years were the show ended after 3.5 hours.
Afterwards, there was 1 final who ended at 3h45min.
I suspect that in 2013 and 2014, we had a combined results of jury and televotes, which made is possible for for a shorter show.
However the 3h45 min., was when we had a separate jurry and telvotes announcement, so shortening the show is possible, but there need to be will to do that.
Regarding the phone numbers / T&Cs on screen – I recall that those taking over 25% of the screen during the climax of the song was one of the main reasons they didn’t continue with the experiment beyond 2011, so I’d be surprised if that came back.
Remember they flash the details up for all countries up during the show already, so they can just do that a little more regularly. They don’t need to show the phone numbers on screen during the song. Perhaps they could do it during the postcards.