It has been confirmed that the Eurovision 2024 semi finals will be broadcast on BBC One.
The Head of BBC Entertainment, Kalpa Patel-Knight, has confirmed that the 2024 Eurovision semi finals will once again be broadcast live on BBC One.
As host country of Eurovision 2023, hosting on behalf of 2022 winners Ukraine, the BBC made the decision to move the semi finals to BBC One. Prior to this, the semi finals had been shown on the BBC’s secondary channels BBC Three or BBC Four.
Alongside this confirmation, Kalpa Patel-Knight also gave some insight into how the BBC might approach Eurovision next year, now that their partnership with TaP Music has ended.
“It has been really good working with Tap, actually, and using their expertise. We have had two amazing finalists and the British public have gotten behind them. Sam Ryder is a proper superstar now. This years entry has been in the top ten and done really well.
People have talked to me ‘should we do a big show on the BBC, how do we select our next act?’ It is a big thing singing live in those giant arenas, and you do need a really experienced performer who has done arena shows before to do that. I think we will continue going to specialists in the industry to help us pick our act going forward.”
Eurovision 2023, which was hosted in Liverpool, saw an average of 9.9 million people tuning in to the final, with a 63% share of viewers. This marked a 12% increase from the 2022 contest. This makes Eurovision 2023 the most watched contest in British history.
Mae Muller had the honour of representing her country on home soil with her pop banger “I Wrote A Song”. Mae, who performed in last place on the night, finished in 25th place with 24 points.
Are you happy that the semi finals will be coming back to BBC One? Were you expecting this to happen? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
Photo credit: Corrine Cummings / EBU
