GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – Big change from EBU regarding the voting of the Eurovision Song Contest comes in 2016 edition. The change is the biggest since 1975 when the system 1-12 came into life.
In previous years the results of the professional juries and viewers have been presented as a combined result, each accounting for 50 percent of the final score.
From 2016, the professional juries and televoters from each country will each award a separate set of points from 1 to 8, 10 and 12. This now means the top 10 countries in both the jury and televote will receive points, adding a new level of excitement for hundreds of millions of viewers in Europe and beyond.
How does it work?
There will be two voting’s actually. The first voting will be the voting of the jury. The voting will be announced one by one per country by the spokespersons. Then when all 43 spokespersons concluded, the hosts will announce another voting: the combined tele voting of all 43 countries starting from the lowest to the higher scoring.
“It’s about creating TV magic”
“This new way of presenting the votes is a big step forward, both to make a better television show as well as a more exciting competition,” said the EBU’s Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest. “There is more reason than ever to vote in the Eurovision Song Contest. The new voting format guarantees that the song which is most popular among the public will receive twelve points regardless of how the juries voted. It is fitting that this change to the Contest’s iconic scoring sequence will be debuted in Stockholm, where the famous douze points system was introduced in 1975.
“All competitions are enhanced by creating a dramatic finish” Eurovision Song Contest Producer, Christer Björkman, says. “This was a unanimous decision taken by the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group. It’s about creating TV magic”, Björkman concludes.
Martin Österdahl, Executive Producer for the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest explained, “In previous years the winner has been known for up to 20 minutes before the end of voting and that’s not good TV. This format change will inject a new level of excitement into the finish of the Eurovision Song Contest”.
INTERESTING QUESTIONS
Will this make the Grand Final longer?
No. Based on calculations made by the producers, the projected running time of the Grand Final will remain approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes.What if a country cannot deliver a valid televoting result?
Both jury and televoting award 1 to 8, 10, and 12 points in each country. In order to secure the 50/50 balance between jury and televoting a national jury result cannot be used as backup result for the televoting. Therefore, if – for whatever reason – a country cannot deliver a valid televoting result, a substitute result is calculated by the audience result of a pre-selected group of countries. These groups and their composition have been pre-approved by the EBU and the Reference Group.What if a country cannot deliver a valid jury result?
Both juries and televoters award 1 to 8, 10, and 12 points in each country. In order to secure the 50/50 balance between jury and televoting, a national televoting result can’t be used as backup result for the jury. Therefore, if – for whatever reason – a country cannot deliver a valid jury result, a substitute result is calculated by the jury result of a pre-selected group of countries. These groups and their composition have been pre-approved by the EBU permanent services and the Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest
SOURCE: EUROVISION.TV
