Eurovision Song Contest 2024

– host venue of the 2024 contest [{ "type":"Feature", "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[12.976111,55.565278]}, "properties":{"title":"Malmö Arena","marker-symbol":"stadium","marker-color":"#f00","marker-size":"large"} },{ "type":"ExternalData", "service":"geoshape","ids":"Q853730", "properties":{"title":"Malmö Arena","fill":"#f00","stroke":"#f00"} },{ "type":"Feature", "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[13.014039,55.593169]}, "properties":{"title":"Eurovision Village","marker-symbol":"village","marker-color":"#00f"} },{ "type":"Feature", "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[13.008392,55.594517]}, "properties":{"title":"Eurovision Street","marker-symbol":"camera","marker-color":"#00f"} },{ "type":"Feature", "geometry":{"type":"Point","coordinates":[12.993611,55.6075]}, "properties":{"title":"EuroClub, Turquoise Carpet and ceremonies","marker-symbol":"town-hall","marker-color":"#00f"} }] The 2024 contest took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Tattoo", performed by Loreen. It was the seventh time Sweden had hosted the contest, having previously done so in , , , , , and . The venue for the contest was the 15,500-seat Malmö Arena, which had previously hosted the contest in 2013. The Malmö Live event centre hosted several events related to the contest. It was the venue for the "Turquoise Carpet" event on 5 May 2024, where the contestants and their delegations were presented before accredited press and fans, and the opening and closing ceremonies. The venue also hosted screenings of the live shows, and was the location of the EuroClub, which hosted the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. A Eurovision Village was created in . It hosted performances by contest participants and local artists, as well as screenings of the live shows for the general public. A "Eurovision Street" was established on , stretching from Triangeln station to the Eurovision Village in . Planned street music performances were affected by the withdrawal of several artists due to Israel's participation in the contest and were ultimately transferred to the Eurovision Village for security reasons. The Euro Fan Café was located at . To celebrate the 50th anniversary of ABBA's victory at the contest in with "Waterloo", which was also Sweden's first win, a special ABBA World exhibition was held at between 29 April and 12 May 2024. Bidding phase After Sweden's win in the 2023 contest, the municipalities of Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Eskilstuna, Jönköping, Örnsköldsvik, Partille and Sandviken expressed interest in hosting the 2024 edition. Host broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT) set a deadline of 12 June 2023 for interested cities to formally apply. By 13 June, it had received bids from Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Örnsköldsvik. On 7 July, Gothenburg and Örnsköldsvik's bids were eliminated. Later that day, the EBU and SVT announced Malmö as the host city. Key: Host city Shortlisted Submitted a bid == Participants ==

, April 2024 Eligibility for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with an active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issues invitations to participate in the contest to all active members. On 5 December 2023, the EBU announced that broadcasters from 37 countries would participate in the 2024 contest. returned to the contest 31 years after its last participation in . , which participated in the 2023 contest, was provisionally announced as not participating in 2024. This was confirmed on 25 January 2024. The contest featured two returning artists: Natalia Barbu, who had represented , and Hera Björk, who had represented . Other countries Active EBU member broadcasters in , , and confirmed non-participation prior to the announcement of the participants list by the EBU. The n broadcaster, TVR, remained in talks with the EBU until 25 January 2024, when it decided not to participate for financial reasons. == Production ==

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 was produced by the Swedish national broadcaster (SVT). The core team consisted of Ebba Adielsson as executive producer, as deputy executive producer, Tobias Åberg as executive in charge of production, Johan Bernhagen as executive line producer, Christer Björkman as contest producer, and as TV producer. Additional production personnel included head of production David Wessén, head of legal Mats Lindgren, head of media Madeleine Sinding-Larsen, and executive assistant Linnea Lopez. Edward af Sillén and wrote the script for the live shows' hosting segments and the opening and interval acts, while Robin Hofwander, and Fredrik Bäcklund served as multi-camera directors. Background music for the shows was composed by Eirik Røland and Johan Nilsson. A majority of the production personnel for 2024 previously worked in the previous three editions of the contest held in Sweden: , 2013 and 2016. Malmö Municipality initially contributed () to the budget of the contest. An additional () was later spent on security measures in the lead-up to and during the event. The total budget was (), with SVT's contribution approximated at (). Slogan and visual design On 14 November 2023, the EBU announced that "United by Music", the slogan of the 2023 contest, would be retained for 2024 and future editions. The accompanying theme art for 2024, named "The Eurovision Lights", was unveiled on 14 December. Designed by Stockholm-based agencies Uncut and Bold Scandinavia, it was based on simple, linear gradients inspired by vertical lines found on auroras and sound equalisers, and was built with adaptability across different formats taken into account. Stage design The stage design for the 2024 contest, revealed in December 2023, was devised by German production designer Florian Wieder, who had previously designed the sets of six previous conteststhe most recent being in . Lighting and screen content was designed by Swedish designer Fredrik Stormby. The stage featured five movable LED cubes, floors and a backdrop screen along with other lighting, video and stagecraft technology, all set around a cross-shaped centre, with the aim of "creating a unique 360-degree experience" for viewers. The green room was placed behind the backdrop screen, in a similar fashion to the stages for the and contests. Construction of the stage began on 2 April and concluded on 25 April. Postcards The "postcards" are short video introductions shown on television while the stage is being prepared for the next entry. Filmed between February and May 2024, the postcards were composed of footage shot by the participating artists through "selfie-mode", introducing the artists themselves and the country they represent. Archival footage of two of each country's previous entries was also used in each postcard, which ends with a slow-motion shot of each artist. Presenters and Petra Mede, presenters of the 2024 contest Swedish comedian and television host Petra Mede and Swedish-American actress Malin Åkerman were announced as the presenters of the 2024 contest on 5 February 2024. Mede had previously hosted both the 2013 and 2016 editions (solo and with Måns Zelmerlöw, respectively), as well as the 2015 special anniversary programme ''Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits'' alongside Graham Norton. The "Turquoise Carpet" and opening ceremony events were hosted by Elecktra and Tia Kofi, while Jovan Radomir moderated the contest's press conferences. Security In November 2023, the production team at SVT stated its intention to increase security measures and to keep in contact with Malmö's police authority during the contest, citing a tense climate of protest amid Israel's participation. This included police reinforcement from Denmark and Norway, tightened cybersecurity, and a no-fly zone to prevent drone attacks, as well as adjustments to the number of locations set to host side events. A total of was spent on the 1,500 police officers present for the competition, which was the largest police operation in the history of Sweden; the Swedish Police Authority covered the costs for the Danish and Norwegian reinforcements. Additional measures were taken to protect the Israeli delegation, with the country's representative Eden Golan being escorted by agents in addition to local police officers following death threats directed at her via social media. also sent a delegation to Malmö, headed by its director Ronen Bar, to prevent potential threats against them. Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in Malmö to protest against Israel's participation in the competition. SVT's decision was made in the context of a high terroristic threat level in Sweden, with the Swedish Security Service (SÄPO) having raised the level from 3 to 4 out of 5 in August 2023, primarily in response to the 2023 Quran burnings in the country and prior to the Gaza war. Concerns about the risk of terrorist attacks resurged in the wake of the Crocus City Hall attack outside Moscow on 22 March 2024. In the event of an emergency, Malmö Municipality would provide accommodations in local schools and sports facilities as well as psychological support. == Format ==

Voting system and contest structure After the outcome of the 2023 contest, which saw win despite 's lead in the televoting, sparked controversy among the audience, Norwegian broadcaster NRK began discussions with the EBU regarding a potential revision of the jury voting procedure. It was noted that Norwegian entries in recent years had been penalised by the juries, particularly in and , when Norway finished in sixth and fifth place overall, respectively, despite coming first in 2019 and third in 2023 with the televote. In an interview, the Norwegian head of delegation discussed the idea of reducing the jury's weight on the final score, from the current 49.4%, to 40% or 30%. No changes to the voting system were ultimately implemented in this regard. For 2024, the "Rest of the World" voting window was open for 24 hours before each show, as well as during each show. For participating countries, it was open after the last song is performedas in previous yearsin the semi-finals. In the final, it was opened just before the first performance and closed 25 minutes after the last performance. 13 of the 25 open positions in the running order of the final were subject to a "producer's choice" draw option, alongside six positions available each, for the first half and second half of the show. For the countries which drew the "producer's choice" category, the contest producers were able to place that country anywhere in the running order. The runtime of the final was initially planned to be reduced by approximately an hour. This was ultimately not a priority, with the final planned to be shortened by a maximum of five minutes. Semi-final allocation draw The draw to determine the participating countries' semi-finals took place on 30 January 2024 at 19:00 CET, at the . With the approval from the contest's reference group, Israel was allocated to the second semi-final following a request from Israeli broadcaster Kan, as the rehearsal date for the first semi-final coincided with .