Almost immediately after Sweden winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 rumours started that the Eurovision Broadcastung Union wants to permanently shorten the Grand Final of the contest. According to the new TV Producer of the show, Per Blankens: “Eurovision can gain a lot from the Grand Final being shorter.”
Reasons for the contest to be shorter
The reasons for the contest to be shorter is because by no less than one hour are the following: There is time needed to collect and add-up the votes given to each and every act, but on the other hand the contest lasts until late especially for people who live in the east, but also for the ones who live in central European countries. This means that by making the contest shorter, without loosing any content, the program could be more efficient, but just as exciting.
Run times of the contest
Below you can find a list of Eurovision Song Contest editions with the longest Grand Final run time.
5. 2021, Rotterdam (Netherlands) – 3 hours, 55 minutes, 47 seconds
4. 2015, Vienna (Austria) – 3 hours and 58 minutes, 45 seconds
3. 2019, Tel Aviv (Israel) – 4 hours and 10 minutes, 23 seconds
2. 2022, Turin (Italy) – 4 hours, 10 minutes, 35 seconds
1. 2023, Liverpool (UK) – 4 hours, 13 minutes, 21 seconds
Eurovision 2024
The 2023 edition of the contest was won by Loreen from Sweden with the song “Tattoo”. Loreen is the first female artist that has won the contest twice; her male equivalent is Irish Johnny Logan, who also managed to win the contest twice. The first time Loreen won was back in 2012 in Baku (Azerbaijan) with the song “Euphoria”. Loreen is also the second artist to have won the contest twice.
The contest has been won 7 times by Sweden (1974, 1984, 1991, 1999, 2012, 2015, and 2023), which means that Sweden is one of the two record holders that have won the contest the most, the other one is Ireland.