Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix is spicing things up for the 60th anniversary of its show. Norwegian broadcaster NRK has revealed that, like the semi-finals, voting in the grand final will be completely done by online voting.

Along with the talent show Maestro, Melodi Grand Prix 2020 is becoming the broadcaster’s first programme in which the winner is decided by online vote only. With that, it beats Sweden’s Melodifestivalen and Denmark’s Dansk Melodi Grand Prix to become the first Scandinavian Eurovision national final to use online voting only. Since 2015, Melodifestivalen viewers have been able to vote via the show’s official app, however televoting is still an option for Swedish viewers.

Melodi Grand Prix 2020’s online voting system

In the final of Melodi Grand Prix 2020, the ten finalists will perform their song. In the first round, each voter has three votes to cast. Keeping with the recent Melodi Grand Prix grand final format, the four artists with the most votes will make it to the second round of the competition.

In the second round, the qualified four acts will not perform another time. Instead, NRK will show a short clip from each performance. As with the previous round, each voter has three votes. The two acts with the highest tally of votes will proceed to the final round.

In the final and decisive round, each voter again has three votes to decide who should represent Norway at Eurovision 2020.

Different from previous years, voting totals aren’t cumulative. The amount of votes is set back to zero as each new round starts.

The results will be delivered by a spokesperson from the five different regions of Norway, who will each reveal how their region voted. When viewers make their online vote at nrk.no/stem, the broadcaster asks the voter which Norwegian region they live in. With MGP 2020 having an emphasis on acts from different regions, it will be interesting to see if Norwegian voters will support their local act or not.

Regional spokespersons at Melodi Grand Prix 2020

The five regional spokespersons are all former Norwegian Eurovision or Melodi Grand Prix stars. Central Norway will be represented by Margaret Berger who gave Norway a fourth-place finish in 2013 with “I Feed You My Love”. KEiiNO singer Tom Hugo will represent Southern Norway.

Western Norway’s spokesperson is Bjørn Johan Muri who made the MGP Gold Final in 2010. Glam rock legend Åge Sten Nilsen will represent Eastern Norway. He represented Norway as part of Wig Wam at Eurovision 2005 and came close to returning in 2017 as the MGP runner-up in the rock band Ammunition.

And representing Northern Norway is Agnete Johnsen. She sang at Eurovision 2016 with “Icebreaker”.

Are you excited about the new voting method at Melodi Grand Prix 2020? Who would your three votes go to? Let us know in the comments below!

Follow all our Norway Eurovision news here

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Mia
Mia
4 years ago

Oh, Norway, I’m delighted! Now I expect gems like “Wild” and “I am gay” to advance to our mutual satisfaction!

RIKY Rodríguez
RIKY Rodríguez
4 years ago

Raylee have to win!!!
Is a AMANZING performance
I love it

Pingo
Pingo
4 years ago

So have we ditched jury voting?

Nicky91
Nicky91
4 years ago
Reply to  Pingo

yes thankfully, otherwise our eurovision legend Raylee can’t win

now only the youth have the power, which is amazing

Raylee is the winner, thankfully another fuego song this year 🙂

Escf
Escf
4 years ago

So basically their voting will look like Wiwi polls, lol

La la love
La la love
4 years ago

Norway don’t even participate in JESC and they’ve introduced online voting? XD

Wozwos
Wozwos
4 years ago

Y’all somehow think older generation is a neanderthal when it comes to technology…

Jacob
Jacob
4 years ago

I honestly wont be supervised if Tone Damli wins, she has over 200k followers on Instagram

Hey
Hey
4 years ago
Reply to  Jacob

Not sure that is going to happen, there is an good amount of people who dont liker her, and the song isn’t the best in the competition. I could see if she got to the top 4 but not sure about her winning the competition.

Jacob
Jacob
4 years ago
Reply to  Hey

Kemama……

Nicky91
Nicky91
4 years ago
Reply to  Jacob

not going to happen, she got no youth fanbase

Johan
Johan
4 years ago

I dont know about this. But it can be good. In Sweden we have an app to vote on and televotes. i guess its the same in a way.

Idksmth
Idksmth
4 years ago

I’m lowkey scared for this. I feel that 50% online and 50% televote kinda like in Latvia would be more broad and more open to generations and international fans at the same time. If Norway sends someone like Magnus or Liza (no offence to them but you get the point – not the best out of this bunch) and don’t qualify – it’s their fault. Risky and I don’t support this but it’s not like I could do something about it. Maybe it turns out really well but there’s a bigger chance for unpleasant suprises.

KnutA ??
KnutA ??
4 years ago
Reply to  Idksmth

The semi’s were watched by less than 500k people, on a TV channel catering to age 50+ the only one watching /voting are teens and their parents. I’m 28, and I haven’t watched linear TV since 2012. They should broadcast it on another channel. NRK is outdated, and they force every Norwegian to pay extra tax annually as a media tax with included NRK. Most Norwegians wants NRK and MGP to be canceled to use our tax money to proper things like environmental issues and technology advancements. So don’t worry about online voting. People don’t use their phones for calling… Read more »

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago
Reply to  KnutA ??

How do you know what most Norwegians want? If that is the case, why hasn’t the government brought in policy to make it happen? I think state broadcasters are invaluable & important, if everything was turned over to private corporations on the open market, it would be the Norwegian people who would suffer. You may not have watched traditionally broadcast television since 2012, but if you’ve watched MGP or the Eurovision or NRK news, then you’ve watched television. It’s the same thing.

Gin
Gin
4 years ago

Norway better have some serious security measures in place to prevent international voting or there will be a concerted effort to push one entry to the top.

Gin
Gin
4 years ago
Reply to  Gin

Never mind.
I just saw that they encourage international votes.

KnutA [Norwegian]
KnutA [Norwegian]
4 years ago
Reply to  Gin

They welcomed international votes for Norwegians living abroad. Huge bunch of retired people live in Sweden, Spain and USA. They track IP, and if too many from outside countries would vote they can cancel them.

Gin
Gin
4 years ago

Ok, that’s good. Thanks for clarifying.

Johan
Johan
4 years ago
Reply to  Gin

I only think about online voting in JESC. have not Norway seen that? ITS HORRIBLE. Poland wins every time. I hope the new swedish supervisor erase it. It not a exiting show if you know that Poland ALWAYS get the highest amount in online voting. Happened 2 year in a row and 100% 3 times if they keep it. Poland has the biggest % watching JESC so….

Dida
Dida
4 years ago

Don’t t like this Ulrikke at all, she’s begging for votes on Eurovision international pages. There are proofs…

KnutA [Norwegian]
KnutA [Norwegian]
4 years ago
Reply to  Dida

It’s too similar to “Arcade” from last year. Same kind of subtle staging, and lots of “oooohh”.

Nicky91
Nicky91
4 years ago

just handed the thing to Ulrikke then ugh

Andreu
Andreu
4 years ago
Reply to  Nicky91

Why do you have a problem with her? She doesn’t even have as much popularity as some of the other contestants in terms of followers.

Andrei
Andrei
4 years ago

Justin
Justin
4 years ago

I predict Norway will regret this

Justin
Justin
4 years ago

No problem, they will regret this. Next year they’ll be back to the traditonal voting.

KnutA [Norwegian]
KnutA [Norwegian]
4 years ago
Reply to  Justin

Barely anybody uses phones for calling here. The smartphone is an internet device. Very few people got landline phones. Online voting is here to stay.

Soon Social media voting will come to. That’s where people are.

dmg
dmg
4 years ago
Reply to  Justin

Well I am 47 years old and first time in many years I have voted in MGP (semifinals) only because it’s online voting.

Milla
Milla
4 years ago

The older audience will not have not much say because of this. I’m proud that in Sweden we don’t use online voting. What’s to ” beat”?

Johan
Johan
4 years ago
Reply to  Milla

we have an app. whats the difference? older people can download the app or vote on their phone in Sweden.

KnutA [Norwegian]
KnutA [Norwegian]
4 years ago
Reply to  Milla

Most of the population is online. I worked in a phone company. We taught 90 year olds how to surf on the web. You’ll be surprised.

dmg
dmg
4 years ago
Reply to  Milla

46 years old (soon 47 years old) and I voted this year. Many years since last time I voted. Maybe the norwegian old people are better to use their smart phones than Swedish 😉

Mws
Mws
4 years ago

Online voting? Doesn’t that make it more open to hackers, spam voters, site crashing etc. What if other countries want the worst song to go through to improve their country’s chance of winning and so vote for the worst song. I think greatest transparency is with televoting. Pay to vote and can trace from where vote is coming, and limit to a National vote, not international.

Darla
Darla
4 years ago

Ouch…well the results will not be in the artist favour to be honest, alot of spam voters

Saara
Saara
4 years ago

Problem with online voting is that “troll”-votes are much easier to do. I wouldn’t be surprised if ‘I am Gay’ wins because of it

dmg
dmg
4 years ago
Reply to  Saara

the trolls must be the jury memebers than 🙂

Norwegian esc lover
Norwegian esc lover
4 years ago

It is worth mentioning that international fans also are able to vote!:) Stig said in an interview that international fans only have to create a user and then they’re good to go!<3

Milla
Milla
4 years ago

:/ Not good. It’s Norway that is supposed to pick their entry.

Loin dici
4 years ago

Wait, aren’t the votes supposed to be stating the part of Norway you are in? Wouldn’t that make non-Norwegian votes invalid?

Isak
Isak
4 years ago
Reply to  Loin dici

It doesn’t make international votes invalid. The international voters just have to choose a random region to vote from, and the region doesn’t matter, other than how the votes will be counted and presented during the live show.

Andreu
Andreu
4 years ago

I hope this doesn’t hurt Ulrikke. Even though she has a lot of support I think supporters of Wild and One Last Time will be voting more passionately. I would be more confident with the original voting method but now I fear the system maybe jeapordise her chances. Regardless I wish her and all the other artists best of luck. Norway has the chance to bring some quality to ESC!

Denis
Denis
4 years ago

I have a bad feeling. How do you control the voting? Or who votes? Older people that can’t vote? or how many times someone votes?
There s a reason MF doesn’t have online voting and it’s not likely it will introduce it either.. There is no demand for it

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago
Reply to  Denis

Let’s learn a lesson from Iowa.

James
James
4 years ago
Reply to  Jonas

Back in Semifinal 1, the show aired a segment detailing the first time that Melodi Grand Prix, in 1997, utilized a telephone-based public vote for the very first time and the problems that came with it, being a new voting method and all. Much like then, the new online-based voting will take some time to get used to.

Denis
Denis
4 years ago
Reply to  James

Yes but phone voting can be controlled. You know who votes. You can control it. Can you control online voting? How do you know someone won’t hack you?

James
James
4 years ago
Reply to  Denis

Phone hacking is also a thing before. Voting lines on landline is vulnerable to clogging because of the amount of callers sending votes in reality competition shows back in the day, before things became relatively smoother with text-based voting on mobile before it was discovered that you can buy multiple SIM cards to send an unusually high amount of votes in support of a performer.

There will be growing pains with an all-online based voting procedure. NRK can always improve on whatever deficiency they will have on the night.

the 50
the 50
4 years ago
Reply to  Denis

You get only 3 votes each 🙂 And have you heard about IP ? And yes, older people are able to vote and will vote 🙂 This system has been used by NRK in several TV-shows already, so we are familiar with it. And it is FREE 🙂

Denis
Denis
4 years ago
Reply to  the 50

Yes, but it can lead to hacking and spam voting. There is no control over that. Not to mention that it is international vote. What guarantes that people wont vote for the worst song just because?
Televoting is best because it gives you transparency

Mike Soto
Mike Soto
4 years ago

Does this mean Americans like myself can vote online?

Brazz
Brazz
4 years ago
Reply to  Mike Soto

Yup, the voting is open for everyone, even from abroad. You just need to register a user first @ NRK

James
James
4 years ago
Reply to  Brazz

It says above that you will need to state what region of Norway you’re from. I don’t think a vote from overseas will count.

Isak
Isak
4 years ago
Reply to  James

It will count. You just have to choose a random region to vote from. The region you choose doesn’t matter other than how the votes will be presented during the last duel of the final show.

Dani
Dani
4 years ago

It’s so hard to control the online voting, and how about people aged +50 who maybe don’t know how to vote online? Eurovision is not only for young people.

jeicjsjf
jeicjsjf
4 years ago
Reply to  Dani

they limit the votes to 3 per person, so it’s not like in latvia where you could vote a million times!

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago
Reply to  Dani

Older people need to learn how to use technology. It’s 2020.

James
James
4 years ago

They invented technology.

the 50
the 50
4 years ago
Reply to  Dani

Seriously, 50+? I have passed 60 and have no problem handling today’s technology and social media. What planet do you live on?

KnutA [Norwegian]
KnutA [Norwegian]
4 years ago
Reply to  Dani

In Norway it’s mostly 50+ ahe people that watch and vote online. Young adults doesn’t watch the show. I only watch YouTube reactions. TV is outdated.

OhhHoney
OhhHoney
4 years ago

Now I’m scared for Ulrikke.

Jacob
Jacob
4 years ago
Reply to  OhhHoney

Why?

Alex
Alex
4 years ago
Reply to  OhhHoney

Why? This gives her more chances at winning

Jacob
Jacob
4 years ago
Reply to  Alex

Ok then why are you scared if she has MORE chances of winning?

OhhHoney
OhhHoney
4 years ago
Reply to  Jacob

Because wild seems to have a following and look at wheat happened in Czech Republic. Nothing is set in stone.

FactCheck
FactCheck
4 years ago

I am pretty sure Israel did it before with Hakochav Haba. Before you jump with “but they only choose the artist”, it was voting by app only in 2016 when the four finalists completed already with their song for the contest.

Blub
Blub
4 years ago
Reply to  FactCheck

They are specifying Scandinavian countries 🙂

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago

…wait does online voting mean that non-norwegians can vote?

Anne
Anne
4 years ago

Yes! You just have to register at nrk.no. Each voting is open for 3 minutes and if you watch online it’s about 30 seconds behind TV, so don’t wait until the last moment to vote 🙂

Jack Pricefield
Jack Pricefield
4 years ago

I fear NRK are opening a can of worms, while I understand traditional televoting is going out of fashion but having 100% online voting!? I have a bad feeling about this, can’t Norway just adopt app voting like their neighbours?

KnutA [Norwegian]
KnutA [Norwegian]
4 years ago

People don’t use their phones for calling here anymore. Everything happens online. The artists update their social media to get people to vote during the show.

Colin
Colin
4 years ago

Sorry to say, but this probably going to allienate most viewers over 50. Having both alternatives is okay, but voting strictly online is not a best idea.

poe-tay-toe-chips
poe-tay-toe-chips
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

I’d rather listen to something that appeals to millennials and gen z than something that appeals to boomers

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago

The show is not produced for just one demographic, though, so your tastes do not take priority. It’s for everyone! Personally, I like all styles & genres and think the contest needs all the variety it can get. #CelebrateDiversity

Nicky91
Nicky91
4 years ago

this is quite ageist, ew

and i’d rather have a normal televote, and a professional jury deciding whoever is going to represent your country

the 50
the 50
4 years ago
Reply to  Colin

Seriously, 50+? I have passed 60 an have no problems with today’s technology. Neither do my even older friends 🙂 Quite many Norwegian, in all ages, already use this system to vote in several other competitions on NRK. So it is familiar to us. And the best of all, IT’S FREE. 🙂

Pingo
Pingo
4 years ago
Reply to  the 50

Yeah saying 50+ can’t use tecnology is quite ignorant. My parents are around 70 and have no problem using their pc, smartphone or ipad.

Colin
Colin
4 years ago
Reply to  the 50

I am glad if I am wrong about this assumption. I am *not* saying that people over 50 can’t use the internet. That would be ignorant of me. In my experience, most middle-aged and older people do use the internet a lot, for things they are used to for some time. I just think that many (not all, maybe even not most, but certainly many) people just don’t like to change their habits so quick. I mean, hardcore fans will learn to vote even if they are 97, but perhaps many casual viewers won’t bother to discover some new app.

Jonas
Jonas
4 years ago

I would hate that for the actual Eurovision. No, thanks.

Sverige
Sverige
4 years ago

As a non Norwegian person I voted in the semis too.. So it’s not possible for me to vote in the final?

Brazz
Brazz
4 years ago
Reply to  Sverige

You can vote in the finals

Milla
Milla
4 years ago
Reply to  Brazz

How stupid.