Let’s start on the dancefloor.
My relationship with Strictly Come Dancing (the UK’s version of Dancing With The Stars) is temperamental at best. Dance isn’t my area of expertise; I can’t tell the difference between an American Smooth and a Tango even if my life depended upon it. Anyway, the final episodes of Strictly 2023 came around and I decided to watch them, pretty much on a whim. ‘It’s the thing to do, so I might as well,’ I reasoned.
Boy, am I glad I did! I’ll never forget how my emotions rapidly escalated from suspicion when Olly appeared to read the terms and conditions (coincidentally, or maybe not, the last dance of the night just prior had been to Loreen’s Tattoo), to euphoria when he announced that he was indeed going to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.
There are various ways for broadcasters to announce their act for the Song Contest. From the artist and budget, to timing and goals, there are many factors to consider.
Who Is The Artist?
Are they an established name or someone relatively unknown?
If you have bagged an artist with a sizable reputation to represent their country, you’d want to make as much noise about that as possible. Using one of the BBC’s Saturday night flagships to reveal the Eurovision act is a beautiful piece of symmetry. But doing the same with an artist who isn’t a household name would likely have confused most viewers about who this upstart is. As such, for lesser-known acts, it’s better to go for an announcement that allows the audience to get to know them, such as through an interview or musical performance.
What Is Your Eurovision Budget?
Broadcasters with limited resources may be confined to relatively modest ways of announcing their act for the Eurovision Song Contest, whereas those with a bit of extra cash in their pocket can be more ambitious. Typically, artist announcements are made online or as part of a TV or radio show. In 2023, RTVSLO decided to set aside an entire primetime TV slot for Joker Out to not only give a premiere performance of their Eurovision entry ‘Carpe Diem’, but also to promote a selection of their other songs. Presumably, RTVSLO was able to reallocate some of the funds that would have been spent on the national selection EMA to this show. The fine art of budget allocation has seen other broadcasters have artists announced through shows in the Music department rather than Entertainment or through ‘red button’ interactive services to tap into alternative budget pools.
When To Announced
Do you announce both the song and artist simultaneously, or do you announce the artist first and release the song later?
Announcing the artist earlier, say in the last few months of the year, has the advantage of cutting short any speculation before the online community buzz gets out of hand. It gives the community more opportunities to discover more about the artist and their music.
Alternatively, maybe you want to take your time in selecting the act for the Song Contest to ensure you have the right choice, or perhaps the artist (or the delegation) may have other commitments before they can focus on the Contest. French representative Slimane was on tour in early 2023, so an autumn release suited him better. It also had the added advantage that Slimane could promote his Eurovision entry on his tour.
Where To Announce?
Internal selections are generally announced in one of three places – TV, radio, or online. Which of these do you opt for? The latter is typically the most cost-efficient as it doesn’t eat into the budget all that much to write a post or two for social media, and an accompanying article. But, to get as many eyes (and ears) on the announcement as possible, you might go for a radio, or even a TV, reveal. As discussed in the previous sections, which one you pursue will likely depend on multiple factors such as the artist’s stature, your budget and the next question.
Why Are They Participating?
What is the ultimate goal in participating in the Eurovision Song Contest? Are you moving heaven and earth to obtain that coveted win, or are you and the broadcaster interested in showcasing your culture, letting viewers in to enjoy the party, and the result is incidental? As for the artist, maybe they desperately desire a win, or perhaps they’re not so bothered about that, but more with gaining new fans and a bigger platform.
How you craft your promotional strategy—which starts with the reveal— will depend on what you want to achieve. If it’s a win you’re after, you’ll likely want to make as much noise as possible, focus more on the competing song itself, and build momentum. But if the artist just wants to expand their reach, you may shift focus from promoting the song to helping fans connect with the artist on a more personal level through more wide-ranging interviews.
What you say can be just as important. In 2024, the BBC made it clear that their ambition was to win and get the song to number 1 in the charts (not that either of them came even close to happening), for Olly it was also about relaunching his musical career under his own name, having previously been under the name Years and Years. Contrast that to 2022 when the BBC were more focused on just getting on to the left-hand side of the final table.
Announcing Is A Unique Moment
While Slimane’s ridiculously early reveal in November 2022 caught us all off guard, or the BBC’s tendency to wait almost as long as possible to give us anything frustrates fans year-in, year-out, delegations have their reasons. Artist calibre, budget, commitments and goals all have their part to play in determining the announcement strategy.
Oh yes, and one final thing. I will watch the Strictly final this year… just in case.