At the press briefing early this afternoon, the SRG SSR production team has confirmed the new qualifiers’ announcement format that will be used for the Eurovision 2025 semi-finals in Basel this week.
Three-way-split-screens for the qualifiers
The end-of-show producer has confirmed that the format of the announcement of qualifiers for this year’s semi-finals will change. The leaks we had reported on a few days ago have been confirmed.
In the new system, for each announcement until the ninth spot (included), three countries would be called and the cameras will be on them for a split screen: only one will qualify, but the other two will not be “eliminated” and may come back later. The algorithm used for this is supposed to show countries no more than three times.
The idea behind this is to put more focus on the artists, and less on the hosts. The announcement of the tenth qualifier, however, will take place in the more traditional manner, with the hosts being on camera for the announcement.
What do you think of the new system? Do you prefer it to the previous one? Tell us more in the comments below or on social media at @escxtra!
“The idea behind this is to put more focus on the artists” meaning more focus on the artists who don’t make it each round. That is nine pairs of acts whose disappointment would otherwise be hidden. So yes, great for reality TV show viewers, but not much fun for those at the other end of the camera.