In September 2008, the
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) announced that an Asian-Pacific counterpart to the
Eurovision Song Contest would be held in 2009. Dubbed
Our Sound – The Asia Pacific Song Contest by 4 March 2009, it was set to be held in the second half of the year, and was to be coordinated by the Singaporean company Asiavision, led by German entrepreneur Andreas Gerlach. Broadcasters from sixteen countries and regions were slated to compete, namely Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. In March 2016, the EBU began development on an adaptation of the Eurovision Song Contest for the region with
Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). SBS was working on the project with its production partner Blink TV. The first contest was scheduled to be held in Australia in 2017. By May, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore had shown interest in hosting the first edition of the contest. The city council of
Gold Coast claimed in November 2018 that the first contest would take place at the
Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre from 30 November to 7 December 2019. In May 2021, it was confirmed that SBS had shelved the project. SBS's plans from May 2016 were for one broadcaster from each country in the Asia-Pacific region to be eligible to compete, meaning there would be a maximum of 68 participants. Membership in the
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) would not be a requirement for participation. By March 2019, the broadcasters from ten countries had confirmed their intention to participate: Australia, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Maldives, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, South Korea and Vanuatu. SBS confirmed its participation, while China, Japan and South Korea were named as potential participants. On 24 June, the EBU published its Brand Impact Report for the Eurovision Song Contest, listing an adaptation in Asia-Pacific as under "ongoing development". In August, the location was instead stated by BBS as
Mumbai, India, as it began organising a national selection titled that same month to select its entry. Additionally,
Ho Chi Minh City Television (HTV), which serves Vietnam's
Ho Chi Minh City area, had initially allocated a timeslot for a programme titled
Eurovision Asia on 31 August. In November, Marcus Tang was hired by Voxovation to serve as "Managing Director Asia". On 15 December,
Christer Björkman, Head of Music and Founder at Voxovation, stated in the
Eurovision Uncovered podcast that Eurovision Asia was ongoing "intensive preparations", with hopes of a public reveal "quite soon". In an interview, Eurovision Director
Martin Green said that the national broadcasters in Asia-Pacific appreciated the contest as a way of giving a chance to national pop stars, portraying it as a "no-brainer". The name "Eurovision" was included in the title, despite the event consisting of Asian-Pacific participants, at the request of the prospective participating broadcasters. == 2026 contest ==