The 2023 edition of Eurovision will present great novelties in the contest’s voting system: the public will choose the qualifiers for the final and the public from non-participating countries will be able to vote for the first time!
There are three main changes in next year’s Eurovision:
- Viewer votes will decide countries qualifying from Semi-Finals
- Viewers in non-participating countries will be able to vote online
- Jury votes will be combined with votes from the global audience to decide final result
Since 2009, the public vote combined with the jury vote were the ones who decided who will qualify from the semi-finals to the Grand Final. In 2023, the qualifiers will be decided solely based on the public vote!
The juries will remain for the Grand Final just like last year.
It’s no secret that Eurovision has many fans across the globe, so for the first time ever, EBU decided to give them the right to cast their votes and support their favorite song! Viewers from non-participating countries will be able to vote via an online platform.
Martin Österdahl, the Eurovision Song Contest’s Executive Supervisor, said of the changes:
Throughout its 67-year history the Eurovision Song Contest has constantly evolved to remain relevant and exciting. These changes acknowledge the immense popularity of the show by giving more power to the audience of the world’s largest live music event.
In 2023 only Eurovision Song Contest viewers will decide which countries make it to the Grand Final and, reflecting the global impact of the event, everyone watching the show, wherever they live in the world, can cast their votes for their favourite songs.
By also involving juries of music professionals in deciding the final result, all the songs in the Grand Final can be assessed on the broadest possible criteria. We can also maintain the tradition of travelling around Europe and Australia to collect points and ensure a thrilling voting sequence with the winner only revealed at the very end of the show.
Those watching in the rest of the world will be able to vote via a secure online platform using a credit card from their country, and their votes, once added together, will be converted into points that will have the same weight as one participating country in both of the Semi-Finals and the Grand Final.
Audiences in all participating countries will still be able to vote by SMS, phone or via the Eurovision Song Contest app.
Public broadcasters from 37 countries will compete to win the 67th Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool on 9, 11 and 13 May.
What are the major changes to the voting system at the Eurovision Song Contest?
In 2023, the countries that qualify from each of the two Semi-Finals of the Eurovision Song Contest will be decided solely on the basis of votes cast by the general public.
Juries, in each country taking part in the respective Semi-Final, will still cast their votes but they will only be used should a valid televote not be recorded or possible in an individual country.
The Jury votes from each participating country will however be counted, as before, in the Grand Final. They will be combined with the result of the public vote to make up the total overall score.
Why are you also introducing an additional Rest of World vote?
As a further step to strengthen the audience’s power in influencing the results of the Eurovision Song Contest, and in recognition of the global reach of the event, those watching the Eurovision Song Contest in non-participating countries will now be able to vote online.
Votes from countries not participating will be combined to create a set of points with the same weight as one participating country in both of the Semi-Finals and the Grand Final.
This will affect the 50/50 percentage balance between Jury points and public points marginally, giving the general public slightly more impact on the final result – approximately 50.6%.
How will you ensure the Rest of the World vote is fair?
Those wishing to vote from a country that is not participating in the Contest will only be able to do so via a secure online platform using a credit card from their country.
Our Voting Partner will ensure that only audiences from countries allowed to vote online, as stipulated by the Reference Group, the Contest’s governing board, will be able to cast a vote and be charged respectively.
The full list of eligible countries will be published near the time of the event.
Will you have a Jury representing the Rest of World as well as a public vote?
No. A Jury representing non-participating countries will not be used.
Why have you decided to make these changes now?
The Eurovision Song Contest, the world’s largest live music event, is now approaching its 70th anniversary. In order to keep the event relevant and exciting we regularly update the format to ensure it continues to thrive.
Additionally, following the unprecedented nature of the voting irregularities seen at the 2022 Contest a working group of EBU Members was established to look at ways to protect the integrity of the event. Their recommendations are being implemented after approval by the Reference Group, the Contest’s governing board and the Executive Board of the EBU.
Why allow Juries to vote in the Grand Final if their votes are no longer used in the Semi-Finals?
Using national juries of musical experts in the Grand Final, who rank all the songs in order of preference, allows each song to be considered individually. It ensures the best qualitative ranking of all participants in the Grand Final and that a winner is decided on the broadest criteria.
Maintaining the Jury vote for the Grand Final also allows us to continue a long-held tradition of uniting all the 37 participating countries on air with spokespeople delivering votes from their nation.
With all participating countries voting in the Grand Final, including the points awarded by professional juries also helps to mitigate the diaspora and cultural voting that is reduced by 50% in the Semi-Finals by allocating countries with similar voting records to perform and vote in separate shows.
Finally, in order to maintain the excitement of the voting sequence in the Grand Final, with the eventual winner only known at the very end of the show, two sets of separate votes are still required.
Will this system now radically change which countries will qualify for the Grand Final?
Together with our Voting Partner we have determined which countries would have qualified from the Semi-Finals between 2017 and 2022 using only the result from the general public.
We saw that, in nearly all cases, when removing the Jury results from the calculation, 9 of the 10 qualifying countries from each Semi-Final stayed the same.
The song that qualified for the Grand Final under the previous system, which would have missed out if only public votes had been counted, in most cases, went on to finish at the lower end of the scoreboard in the Grand Final.
What are the circumstances in which a Jury vote will be used in the Semi-Finals?
The Jury vote of a participating country will only be counted in the Semi-Finals should a valid televote not be recorded in that country.
If you discover any irregular voting patterns, how will you address the matter?
If irregular patterns are seen in any country’s Jury vote in the Semi-Finals (even though the vote no longer counts towards the results of the Semi-Final) that Jury will be dismissed and will not vote in the Grand Final.
In the Grand Final, should any national jury have been/be disqualified, the points awarded from the public vote in that country will be doubled and used as a substitute so that the same number of total points, 116 (58 x2), are awarded by each participating country.
What happens if there is neither a valid televote or jury vote from a participating country?
If there is not a valid televote or Jury vote in any participating country then a result based on the votes from countries with similar voting records will be used.
Will there still be a draw to determine which countries perform in which Semi-Final?
Yes. There will still be a draw at the end of January to decide in which Semi-Final 31 of the countries participating will perform in. This is to ensure all songs have the best possible chance to qualify for the Grand Final by reducing diaspora voting and separating countries with similar voting patterns.