Eurovision 2023: Power to the people and going global; EBU introduces changes in the voting system
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The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has announced the introduction of several changes in the voting system for Eurovision 2023 giving out more power to the people's verdict and making it a global case.
With a suprising breaking news alert this morning the EBU has announced major changes on how the results of the 67th edition of Eurovision in Liverpool next year will be determined.
If we want to sum it up all in one phrase: Power to the people, could be the one to describe the changes to be implemented in Eurovision 2023. The three points that stand out in EBU's new voting system are:
- Viewer votes will decide countries qualifying from Semi-Finals
- Viewers in non-participating countries will be able to vote online
- Jury votes will be combined with votes from the global audience to decide final result
EBU explains that following the voting irregularities seen at the 2022 Contest a working group of EBU Members was formed in order to search in what way the results' integrity can be secured. Its recommendations were then approved by the Reference Group, the Contest’s governing board and the Executive Board of the EBU.
What does all the mean lets go and see one by one the changes according to the enlightening press release the EBU shared this morning.
Semi final results
Televoting exclusively!
Since 2009 we had the combination of jury and public voting determining the results of the two semifinals.
It has now been confirmed by EBU that viewer votes will be counted in the semifinals in order to see which of the 20 semifinalists countries will be advancing to the final show. The outcome in both semi final rounds will be influenced only by televoting with the juries' contribution put on pause at least for the next edition of Eurovision.
Non-particpating countries in the game
In addition the viewers from non-participating countries will have a say on the results as they will be allowed to contribute to the final verdict by casting their votes in an online voting platform. The votes from non-participating countries will be the equivalent of one country’s votes.
A major change for Eurovision which proves one more time the direction of the contest which is going literally global, following the expansion of the brand in other parts of the world ( USA, Canada, Latin America).
Jury voting remains in the Grand final
While the juries, made up by music experts, will no longer contribute ti the semifinals results, their presence is maintained in the Grand final show where along with the public verdict of televoting they will determined the final outcome of the competition.
Eurovision Song Contest’s Executive Supervisor, Martin Österdahl says on the voting changes:
“Throughout its 67-year history the Eurovision Song Contest has constantly evolved to remain relevant and exciting. These changes acknowledge the immense popularity of the show by giving more power to the audience of the world’s largest live music event.
In 2023 only Eurovision Song Contest viewers will decide which countries make it to the Grand Final and, reflecting the global impact of the event, everyone watching the show, wherever they live in the world, can cast their votes for their favourite songs.
By also involving juries of music professionals in deciding the final result, all the songs in the Grand Final can be assessed on the broadest possible criteria. We can also maintain the tradition of travelling around Europe and Australia to collect points and ensure a thrilling voting sequence with the winner only revealed at the very end of the show.”
The 67th edition of Eurovision is set to take place at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool on May 9, 11 and 13 with a total of 37 countries taking part.
News Source: EBU
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AUTHORS
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Angelos D.
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