Martin Österdahl: Last News

Switzerland has won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, which took place Saturday evening in Malmo, Sweden.

K.J. Yossman It’s that time of year again, when Europe and pop music collide in a riotous (and sometimes downright bonkers) display of color, rhythm and fun. This year, the Eurovision Song Contest is being held in Malmo, Sweden, after Swedish singer Loreen won the 2023 competition.

Speculation is building over whether ABBA will take to the stage at the Eurovision Song Contest later this week.This year marks the 50th anniversary of Sweden having won the contest for the first time back in 1974, when the country was represented by ABBA and the event was hosted by the UK in Brighton. Now, rumours have been circulating that the iconic band could reunite for the contest on Saturday, 11 May – where Olly Alexander will represent the UK with his song, Dizzy, despite dividing audiences during the semi-finals this week.

ABBA’s Waterloo has been voted the greatest song in Eurovision history, and with the Song Contest in Sweden this year, the organizers have a surprise ABBA tribute up their sleeves. Changes are also being introduced to both the voting system and the format of the live shows. There will be full live performances in the semi-finals from the artists representing the ‘big five’ countries for the first time, and the public vote will now open at the start of the live final.

The city of Malmo will host the Eurovision Song Contest next year, it has been announced. The southern Swedish city was chosen after singer-songwriter Loreen clinched victory during the singing competition in Liverpool this year for a second time with her power ballad Tattoo.

The Swedish city Malmö will host the 68th Eurovision Song Contest following Sweden’s win at this year’s event.

K.J. Yossman The Swedish city of Malmö is set to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2024. The city, set on the coast of southern Sweden, was selected after a bidding process across the country. Swedish broadcaster STV will stage the show after the country’s singing representative, Loreen, won this year’s competition in Liverpool, U.K. The winner of the contest is usually selected to host the event the following year. This year’s Eurovision was held in the U.K. because Ukraine – the previous year’s winners – was deemed too risky following the Russian invasion.

For the first time in its history, the Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast live in cinemas across the UK. 

Amber Dowling The Nordic region’s largest streamer, Viaplay, has debuted in Canada, continuing its expansion into North America after landing in the U.S. on Feb. 22. The direct-to-consumer platform touts itself as the premiere platform for Nordic Noir, the term used to describe the growing subgenre of Scandinavian crime dramas, thrillers, dark comedies and YA offerings. Available in every Nordic and Baltic country, Viaplay has been gaining ground over the past several months, expanding across Europe, U.K. and Australia. In February, it reported an 83% rise year-over-year in streaming subscribers, a number that is expected to swell with the North American launches.

Liverpool has been selected as host city for the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest, the wildly popular music competition that will be entering its 67th year. The city of the Beatles won out Friday over Glasgow, the fellow finalist from a shortlist of UK cities that included Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.

The Eurovision Song Contest has revealed the shortlist of cities bidding to host the 2023 competition. Out of 20 cities' applications, the final seven contenders have been narrowed down to Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.

The final seven Eurovision Song Contest locations in the UK have been revealed. The contest's executive supervisor Martin Osterdahl joined Scott Mills and Zoe Ball on BBC Radio 2 on Friday morning (August 12) to announce the shortlist for the 2023 event.

The seven cities shortlisted to possibly host the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in the UK have been revealed.

Eurovision Song Contest.

The UK will host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest, it has been confirmed. That was already very much expected, of course, after organiser the European Broadcasting Union concluded that it was not practical or safe to stage their 2023 event in Ukraine, despite it winning the 2022 Contest, because of the ongoing war in the country following Russia’s invasion earlier this year.With the UK in second place back in May, it was always likely that Eurovision 2023 would happen here, despite Ukrainian broadcaster UA:PBC – and politicians in the country – being keen to find a way to make the event happen somewhere in Ukraine.

The UK has officially been confirmed as the host country for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. 

The United Kingdom will be hosting the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.This comes after Ukraine, who had this year's winning act Kalush Orchestra, was forced to pull out due to the country's war with Russia. In a statement, Tim Davie, Director-General of the BBC said: “It is a matter of great regret that our colleagues and friends in Ukraine are not able to host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest.

K.J. Yossman The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 delivered stellar ratings, with 161 million viewers watching the three live shows (the first and second semi final and the grand final) in Turin, Italy just over ten days ago.According to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which hosts the annual concert, the grand final viewing share on Saturday May 14 rose by three percentage points from 2021, to a total of 43.3% across 34 markets.The coveted 15-24 year-old demographic was also up by three percentage points for the final, with a total of 56.2%.Across Europe, individual territories also reported a ratings spike, with the U.K.

K.J. Yossman The unspoken question in the run up to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest was whether Ukraine would be able to host next spring if they won.Before the event, sources close to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organizes the annual music contest, indicated it was not a situation they were looking forward to grappling with.However, when Ukrainian rappers Kalush Orchestra were announced as the winners in Italy on Saturday night, it became an inevitability.The contest is hosted each year in the country which won the previous year.

TikTok has been announced the ‘Official Entertainment Partner’ of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) made the announcement earlier today (April 14), placing the video-focused social networking service’s global community of one billion at the heart of Eurovision 2022.“We’re delighted to be making TikTok the Official Entertainment Partner of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, working closely to create even more exclusive and engaging content,” Martin Österdahl, executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest said in a statement.“The TikTok community really embraced the Eurovision Song Contest last year and now we’re looking forward to giving them unprecedented access to the world’s largest live music event and inspiring a whole new generation of fans.”As ‘Official Entertainment Partner’ of Eurovision 2022, TikTok will celebrate the music, the artists, the countries and the history and the event itself, through a specially created programming, music playlists and behind-the-scenes content.Eurovision’s semi-final shows and the Grand Final will be available to stream via the official Eurovision TikTok account, in a unique vertical format that combines the official broadcast with a backstage view of the contest, while the live performances take place.The TikTok community will also have exclusive access to backstage content from all the participating artists’ first rehearsals.Elsewhere, playlists featuring the event’s participants will live on TikTok’s Sound Pages, allowing users to create and share their own videos, “bringing the music of the contest to life in a way that only the TikTok community can make happen”.Eurovision’s TikTok account will also feature exclusive daily content