Eurovision seeks to expand brand despite frictions

"Bringing the world together through music has always been an incredibly powerful idea and has stood the test of time for 70 years," Eurovision Song Contest director Martin Green told DW on the sidelines of the event's annual European Broadcasting Union (EBU) workshop held in mid-September. "And I think the more difficult the world gets around us, the more important these shows of unity, these shows of togetherness become."

While Green is intent on promoting the unity of the international music contest that celebrated its 70th anniversary in May, the 2026 event was also infamously marked by unprecedented backlash .

Political boycotts over Israel's inclusion amid the war in Gaza led to a significant low point in participation and viewership, dropping from 166 million viewers in 2025 down to 131 million viewers a year later.

The 2027 song contest is set to remain affected by geopolitics.

Of the five countries boycotted the 2026 event, the Netherlands, Spain, Iceland, Slovenia and Ireland, the latter has already confirmed that it will not participate for the second time in a row.

The Netherlands' usual Eurovision broadcaster had also announced it would be snubbing the show again, stating it refused to take part in an event that "can no longer be considered neutral, with a participating country still involved in a large-scale military conflict." Now, Dutch public broadcasting association NPO decided to step in and resume participation in the contest.

The three other countries that pulled out last year have yet to make an official announcement for 2027.

Broadcasters have until mid-October 2026 to withdraw their application without facing a financial penalty.

In August, the contest organizers announced new rules , according to which "the winning broadcaster will automatically be ineligible to host the contest if an armed conflict, a sensitive geopolitical situation, or any other situation materially affects the security, safety or stability of their state or immediate region," they said in a statement.

The winning country usually earns the right to host the following edition, though the UK hosted the 2023 event on behalf of Ukraine due to the war with Ukraine. Even though the rule doesn't name the country, it clearly aims to avoid having the show held in Israel, which came close to taking home the trophy in 2025 and 2026.

Organizers also plan to introduce changes to reduce politically motivated voting.

The current system allows viewers to vote up to 10 times per payment method for their favorite act, by phone, text message or online.

There was a huge uproar in 2025 when the Israeli government encouraged to register multiple votes for its contestant. The controversy had already led to a change in the voting rules; the maximum number of public votes was halved from 20 to 10.

Now the plan is to move the vote entirely online, with a system that would require people to select three acts instead of one.

Since Bulgarian singer Dara won in Vienna with her song "Bangaranga," her country will be hosting the event next year.

The competition will take place in Burgas, a city on the Black Sea coast.

When the city's selection was announced, people in Burgas celebrated with spontaneous music and dance performances and flash mobs, said Milena Milotinova, general director of Bulgaria's public broadcaster BNT, host of the televised event.

"I'm glad that people in Bulgaria are actually so passionate about Eurovision," Milotinova told DW. "This will be the first time Bulgaria has organized such a large-scale event at such a high level."

The Balkan country participated for the first time in 2005. It now needs to quickly develop its infrastructure for the international event.

"The important thing is that we already have a hall, and the stage design is being developed based on that," said Milotinova.

"We are in the midst of frantic preparations," she added. "There are no days off, so we hope we'll be able to get everything done on time and put on a spectacular, world-class Eurovision show."

Beyond blows to the contest's viewership, Eurovision also had to deal with a substantial financial setback due to the withdrawal of Spain, which was traditionally one of the so-called "big five" contributors supporting the event.

Yet amid these challenges, Eurovision organizers are working to expand the brand's international reach.

The Eurovision Song Contest Asia will debut in November this year, with Thailand's capital Bangkok selected as the host city for its inaugural edition. Eleven countries are taking part, and negotiations are underway to get more Asian countries to join in 2027.

A Latin American spin-off of the format has been announced in the past, but has not yet materialized.

"We're always investigating new areas of the world that we can take the show to," said Martin Green. "We're beavering away on all sorts of ideas."

One achievement organizers are definitely celebrating is Canada's addition to the European lineup, which was announced in July: "We are so happy that the Canadians chose to join our family," said the Eurovision Song Contest director.

Participation is not restricted to Europe's geographic boundaries; it's open to active members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Israel's public broadcaster has competed regularly since 1973. Due to its massive fan base, Australia first joined as a special participant in 2015, and has remained a committed contestant since.

"We're learning about what this takes, but we're going to put our best foot forward and really show the world what Canada can do," Jennifer Dettman, Canada's Eurovision Song Contest head of delegation, told DW.

The participation also marks a strategic push by Prime Minister Mark Carney's government to deepen cultural and diplomatic ties with Europe. His government's budget included C$150 million (€93 million, $106 million) in funding for the broadcaster.

"This is the biggest global music event. So it's an opportunity to put our artists on this global stage," added Dettman. "People are really excited to do that."

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video