It’s official: Eurovision Song Contest Asia is finally happening. The news was confirmed during a press briefing yesterday by Martin Green CBE, Director of the Eurovision Song Contest, and Marcus Tang, Executive Supervisor of Eurovision Asia.
The pair announced that the newest Eurovision-branded Contest will follow the same format as its European counterpart, with 10 countries already confirmed: South Korea, Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Additional countries and broadcasters are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
The move is significant for several reasons, not least the inclusion of South Korea, which has had a massive global influence in recent years thanks to the prevalence of KPop. (For the first time ever in 2025, KPop stars dominated the IFPI international charts). Indeed, yesterday’s briefing featured an appearance via video message from KPop stars AtHeart, AB6IX, KISS OF LIFE and P1HARMON sharing messages of support for Eurovision Asia.
1: Eurovision Asia Has Been A Goal For Some Time
This isn’t, as Phoebe Buffay might describe it, ‘brand new information’. Speaking to ESC Insight in December 2025, Eurovision 2025’s Head of Contest Christer Björkman said:
“The most intensive preparations are for Asia. It’s ongoing. It’s very complicated. There’s nothing decided yet. There’s nothing confirmed. We’re not quite there yet. Hopefully, it will be quite soon.”
It’s also not the first time Eurovision Asia has been suggested; in March 2016 Australian broadcaster SBS announced that it had secured the exclusive option from the EBU to develop an Asia-Pacific version of the Contest. Following multiple delays and the Covid-19 pandemic, SBS shelved the project in 2021; however, just last year, discussions began circulating about its possible launch in 2026.
The latest version of Eurovision Asia does not include Australia yet, although Green confirmed that more countries could be added to the line-up over the coming months.
This follows The American Song Contest, which took place in 2022 (memorably hosted by Kelly Clarkson and Snoop Dogg), which was cancelled by US broadcaster NBC after just one season due to poor ratings.
2: A New Financial Approach
One key difference between ‘Eurovision Asia’ and ‘Eurovision Europe’ is that the Asian edition will be a commercial enterprise. In Europe, the event is paid for by a combination of participation fees from public service broadcasters and sponsorship, whereas Eurovision Asia is being operated as a fully commercial model.
During the briefing, Green said:
“One of the things that was important to us from the outset is that this is made by the people of this region, by the TV broadcasters of this region, produced by people who are here. On one level, you’ve got the format which puts some guardrails around it, but conversely, as we see on the European show, it still allows people to express cultural differences and celebrations within that. I’m excited to see what happens and how people respond to it.”
He later added: “We are in a very commercial part of the world, we are approaching new continental versions of Eurovision from a commercial model…some of that money then flows back to the EBU to do two things: one, is to help fund Eurovision Europe, and the other is help fund the work of the EBU in helping support public service broadcasting across its members. So yes, it is a commercial relationship, these ones are being delivered in a very different way in that sense from how we run the Mothership.”
Green’s statement is interesting from several perspectives.
Firstly, the commercial relationship and the fact that the event will be hosted on private and pay TV channels suggests that the format could perhaps see some changes. Surely the need to maximise profit and audience share for advertisers must come with some necessary creative and structural changes to the traditional Eurovision format?
Second, his reference to ‘continental versions’ (plural) suggests that Eurovision Asia could be the start of a series of brand extensions if it performs well. Could we, for example, see a Eurovision South America or Eurovision Africa format in the future?
3: The Show Should Look The Same
Another perspective to consider is how well the format will translate to Asian culture.
Green asserts that this will be a Song Contest made by Asia for Asia, but presumably some of the commercial success of this Contest relies on it being watched by an international audience, in which case, will we just see more of the same Western-style pop music, to ensure it translates across continents?
Green said: “The format remains the same, so all the rules about length of song number of people on stage and everything, that’s the same, so that naturally pushes this into a pop music space, but pop music is not the same country by country region by region”.
Some commentators may baulk at the inference that Eurovision is purely a ‘pop music’ competition; after all, we’ve seen rock (Lord of the Lost, Blind Channel, Måneskin), folk fusion (Go_A, Kalush Orchestra, Alvan and Ahez), and classical inspired artists like JJ and Monroe this year – to name a few.
The Eurovision Song Contest is so much more than just ‘pop’, so will there be space for niche regional Asian styles of music and performance and a variety of languages, or will everyone feel obliged (given the international money riding on it) to present a perfectly formed 3-minute up-tempo pop banger in the lingua franca of English?
4: Eurovision Asia Is More Than A One-Off Project
As a one-year experiment, Eurovision Song Contest Asia certainly sounds like an interesting proposition, but discussions at the briefing were very much focused on longer-term expansion of the brand, with both Green and Tang emphasising the appetite to grow the format and add more countries in time.
Indeed, back in December Björkman hinted at an even bigger goal: “My dream scenario is that Europe, Asia, South America or the Americas actually happen – and the top five from each continent meet in a world final.”
At this week’s briefing, commentators were quick to point to the challenges faced by The American Song Contest, asking how the team planned to address this to ensure Eurovision Asia’s longevity.
Green said: “One of the key issues about the one in America was that it wasn’t really our format. What makes us unique is that we are an international music competition where broadcasters from different countries compete. I think if you do country-only versions, you end up being in a camp somewhere near The Voice and Idol…whereas if we concentrate on bringing broadcasters together and countries together, I think we’re in an incredibly strong place.
“My focus has been on looking at continents rather than individual countries, and I’m keen to explore that going forward.”
5: Success For Eurovision Asia Comes From A Group Effort
The key difference with Eurovision Asia (barring the obvious cultural diversity) is that unlike The American Song Contest, it won’t rely on a single broadcaster to survive; as long as there’s a big enough group willing to participate (Green suggested 8 was the magic number) then the format can continue.
It also appears that the formula is much more clearly defined and related to the original Eurovision than The American Song Contest, which played fast and loose with the format.
Tang acknowledged, however, that the broadcasting landscape had changed over the past 70 years and that Asia is a completely different playing field, so some adjustments may be necessary.
“We’re working with different types of broadcasters depending on which country we’re in, the landscape is different, and the audiences are different. It would have been limiting to be overly specific when you’re coming into a whole new region. We want to make sure, though, that everyone understands the IP, what Eurovision is about, and how they can bring the best songs from their country,” he said.
One clear divergence from the original format is that the Contest’s winner will not be obliged to host the following year. This, too, perhaps, plays into Eurovision Asia’s commercial emphasis. It’s perfectly possible, for example, that we could see a country’s tourist board paying to host in order to promote itself to potential visitors in the future.
Green said he hopes Eurovision Asia would “last for a long time, but at the end of the day, it’s the audiences who will decide if this is something that they want to see. We think it is. We’ve got 70 years of history (with Eurovision)… certainly everybody involved here is passionate about the fact that they hope to be here in 70 years still doing it”.
Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026 will take place in Bangkok on Saturday 14 November 2026, with each participating broadcaster choosing its entries via national finals in the months leading up to the event. Details of where international viewers can watch the Contest will be released in the coming months.