Eurovision Song Contest Rivals Largest Sports Productions in Scale and Reach Competition with artists from 37 countries drew more than 160 million on-air, online viewers By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Tuesday, May 16, 2023 - 11:15 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Is there a broadcast competition that could dwarf the recent NFL Draft or even the Olympics? There is, and it took place on Sunday in Liverpool, UK.
With teams from 37 countries competing, the 2023 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest may appear to be a European version of The Voice or American Idol, but the joint production by host broadcaster BBC and EBU Eurovision Network (comprising more than 100 public broadcasters across Europe) managed 50 live feeds of two semifinals on May 9 and 11 and 26 feeds for the finale on May 13, totaling eight hours of live performance.
Attracting an estimated audience of more than 160 million on-air and online via TikTok and YouTube, the production arguably had much in common with a World Cup series, with entries competing for national honors as much as for artistic achievement. Its fan voting procedures are as convoluted as those for an NFL Draft.
It is the biggest live music event in the world by audience, and no other show attempts live voting on this scale, Eurovision Services Project Leader Lennard Bartlett told SVGEurope. There's no other show like it.
The Big Show The event took place at Liverpool's M&S Bank Arena. Normally, the previous year's winner would host, but 2022 victor Ukraine was unavailable because of the war with Russia (whose Eurovision entries have been barred since the 2022 invasion). In fact, air-raid sirens sounded across Ukraine as this year's contest was under way).
Staging was on a colossal scale: a reported 8 miles of cabling for lighting, sound, video, and SFX; more than 2,000 specialist lighting fixtures; 200 custom staging decks; and 10,225 sq. ft. of staging for the main stage. The lighting alone required 165,000 channels and 23,700 individual light sources held aloft by most of the 600 rigging points, including 2,500 automated color-changing robotic lights and 15 follow spots, controlled via nine lighting consoles running 28,000 lighting cues.
The Sound of Music The event's audio required deployment of 150 mostly wireless microphones and more than 1,200 individual streams of audio. Live venue sound was through L-Acoustics L-Series PA speakers and mixed over DiGiCo consoles, both provided by production integrator Britannia Row.
Comms were understandably both critical and complex. Riedel Communications, with a crew of 22 onsite, deployed more than 100 RSP series intercom panels, 170 Bolero full-duplex wireless beltpacks and associated accessories, and 10 C3 full-duplex wired beltpacks - much of it on 10 miles of fiber backbone. Signal distribution and management was based on MediorNet, handling about 200 audio and 400 video signals and associated services. Additionally, there were 32 simplex and semi-duplex radio channels for 250 handheld radios plus associated accessories for broadcast/show-related communications, such as show call, TV crew, and stage management.
The co-production of BBC and EBU Eurovision Network managed as many as 50 live feeds in 8 hours of live performance.
Just as with any major broadcast-sports event, the picture and sound weren't left to speak for themselves: 29 commentators provided live annotation from the arena, with Riedel providing 45 CCP commentary panels, 90 monitors, and a centralized routing facility housing commentary and coordination lines for 30 master-control rooms in 24 countries across Europe and the world.
The event's logistics rivaled the Super Bowl halftime spectacular's usual chaotic changeover from game to show. The Eurovision Song Contest managed to switch all 37 of its musical moments with less than 50 seconds to strike and set between performances.
Replays, of course, are available: all 37 songs are available via various streaming services and on the event's official YouTube channel. The competition streamed in the U.S. on NBC/Comcast's Peacock.
SVT won the 67th Eurovision Song Contest with Tattoo, performed by Swedish chanteuse Loreen - only the second artist (and only female) to win the Eurovision Song Contest twice, having done so in 2012). Sweden now has seven victories in the Eurovision Song Contest, equaling Ireland's record set in 1996.
Fans track the Eurovision artists as avidly as they follow their sports teams. As one superfan put it to the BBC, It's like sport without the sport. The event is an avatar of the convergence of sports and entertainment that is leading the growth in all types of media, including broadcast and streaming.
For instance, on June 10, Nigerian Grammy Award-winning and multi-platinum-selling singer, songwriter, and producer Burna Boy will co-headline the 2023 UEFA Champions League Final Kick Off Show by Pepsi at Istanbul's Atat rk Olympic Stadium. Last year's show was topped by Camila Cabello at the Stade de France. And of course, the Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies have come to resemble events like the Grammy Awards.
PepsiCo VP, Global Brand Marketing, Eric Melis, who oversees the brand relationship between UEFA and Pepsi (the Super Bowl's halftime sponsor for a decade until Apple took over this year), told UK-based Sport Industry Group in March, It's no secret that the lines between sport and popular culture are rapidly blurring. At an ever increasing rate, we're seeing the often segmented worlds of music, fashion, art, and sport collide.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
Eurovision Song Contest Rivals Largest Sports Productions in Scale and Reach Competition with artists from 37 countries drew more than 160 million on-air, online viewers By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
