It’s that time of year again: the continent of Europe is about to unite for one week through a shared love of song, dance, and spectacle.
Eurovision 2024 is upon us, and for the fourth year in a row, it’s easier than ever for Americans to tune in from across the pond.
The finals of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest kicks off soon, so read on for everything you need to know about streaming Eurovision in the United States and all the info on how it works.
What Is Eurovision?
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual international song competition organized by the European Broadcasting Union.
Each year, the broadcasting union of each participating country chooses a new song (and artist) as their entry for that year’s contest. Each original song must be three minutes or less and performed live by a soloist or a group of up to six people over the age of 16.
After two semi-finals, the field is narrowed down to a grand final. Each entry is performed live on stage, and every participating country also gets an opportunity to showcase local culture and landmarks via previously recorded clips that introduce each performance.
Each country’s performance is voted on, and a winner is crowned.
Anything can happen at Eurovision, but we know this: each year, the countries will find a way to one-up themselves with more outrageous performances.
It’s worth noting that this year’s Song Contest has been facing controversy and boycotts over the decision to include Israel following the events of October 7, 2023. The second semifinal, which took place on May 9, was met with protests supporting Gaza outside, while the country’s representative, Eden Golan, was booed during both the dress rehearsal and live semi-final. This came after Israel was asked to change lyrics to their entry as they seemed to reference the war.
Eurovision 2024 Schedule:
The Eurovision Song Contest has three live portions: two semi-finals and the grand final. Ten countries from each semi-final qualified for the grand final alongside the pre-qualified host country (Sweden) and the “Big Five” countries that made the greatest financial contribution to the European Broadcasting Union this year.
The Eurovision 2024 final will air today, Saturday, May 11 at 3:00 p.m. ET/12:00 p.m. PT.
How to Watch and Stream Eurovision 2023:
Viewers in the United States can stream Eurovision 2024 exclusively on Peacock. The streamer will broadcast both semi-finals and the grand final live with additional commentary from Olympian Johnny Weir.
Peacock starts at $5.99/month for ad-supported streaming or $11.99/month for ad-free streaming and local live NBC. You’ll be able to stream Eurovision live with either Peacock plan.
Which Countries Qualified for the Eurovision 2024 Final?
These are the 26 countries performing live during the Eurovision final: Sweden, Ukraine, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Israel, Lithuania, Spain, Estonia, Ireland, Latvia, Greece, United Kingdom, Italy, Norway, Serbia, Finland, Portugal, Armenia, Cyprus, Switzerland, Slovenia, Croatia, Georgia, France, and Austria.
Where Is Eurovision 2024 Taking Place?
Eurovision always occurs in the country that won the previous year’s contest. Following Loreen’s 2023 victory, Eurovision 2024 will be broadcast live from Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden.
It’s Sweden’s seventh time hosting the song contest, and the second time Malmö Arena will serve as the host location (the first was in 2013, also following Loreen’s victory the year before).
Who Is Hosting Eurovision 2024?
Eurovision 2024 will be hosted by actress Malin Åkerman and television presenter Petra Mede.
How Are Eurovision Winners Chosen?
The winners of the Eurovision Song Contest are chosen using a positional or ranked, voting system. Each voting body awards 12 points to their favorite act, 10 to their second, and 8-1 to the subsequent vote-getters.
This year, 37 participating countries make up the voting body, and each country awards 12, 10, 8-1 twice; a professional voting jury awards one set, while a country-wide televote awards the second.
Additionally, non-participating countries (aka the rest of the world) can televote — these points are aggregated and awarded as one set of points.
Voting is as dramatic as some of the performances on stage. The jury reveals their votes first, country by country, and then televote totals are revealed in reverse order. This means that a country firmly atop the leaderboard following the jury votes could slip several positions quickly, no leads are safe, and no one has truly won until the last votes are read.
Following these live reveals, the country with the most points is crowned the winner.
Who Are The Eurovision 2024 Front Runners?
Eurovision is not a sport, but it’s treated as such, down to oddsmakers creating betting odds on the winner. The top five odds-on favorites this year, in order, are:
- “Rim Tim Tagi Dim” by Baby Lasagna (Croatia)
- “Hurricane” by Eden Golen (Israel)
- “The Code” by Nemo (Switzerland)
- “Mon Amour” by Slimane (France)
- “Teresa & Maria” by alyona alyona and Jerry Heil (Ukraine)
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