Last week the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet obtained a secret document that outlined the many questions on SVT’s mind ahead of Eurovision 2024. The document outlined requirements for potential host cities, thoughts on re-assessing the jury-televote divide and the question of whether the grand final broadcast should be cut down by an hour.
This last issue — shortening the show — has proven explosive, with fans weighing in across social media. We ran a flash poll on Twitter, collecting around 5,300 votes in 24 hours. The result was lopsided, with 68% of people saying NO, the EBU should not cut down the length of the grand final (which ran for more than four hours this year).
Should the EBU cut down the length of the #Eurovision grand final? If yes, then by how much?
— wiwibloggs (@wiwibloggs) June 17, 2023
We ran another 24-hour poll on Instagram Stories. We collected around 2,700 votes. Once again, fans were largely united. A staggering 82% said NO — they do not want the show shortened.
We shared the question on our Instagram main feed and people were just passionate in the comments.
Among the most-voted for comments came from Eurovision 2013 singer Krista Siegfrids, who wrote: “NO!!! MAKE IT LONGER!!! BEST EVENT OF THE YEAR COME OOOOON!”
Sampitar wrote: “LONGER ABSOLUTELY. I was there live and the grand final was too short for me.”
Luca_hedborg agreed. “If anything it should be longer. It’s such an amazing and exciting show. I wish it would never end.”
Of course, not everyone is into a four-hour show.
Grahammaxwell41 suggested on Instagram that the show should include just 15 finalists: the Big 5 plus five from each semi-final.
Robyn suggested skipping any introduction and hard opening with the first competing act.
Laurasiandixon also thinks producers could nip-and-tuck: “The only thing I think they could cut out is some of the green room moments, and maybe have one less interval act.”
But what do YOU think? Vote in our poll below. Then explain why you voted the way you did in our comments section.
The show starts at 10 pm in our country. We don’t want to try to stay awake at 2 am anymore.
4 hours 15 is too long. Look at for example Eurovision 2013-16, which have been much shorter and the shows were amazing.
3 hours 30 would be perfect.
Shorten the opening, less interval acts, less greenroom interviews…. It’s really not that difficult
Sweden does what Sweden wants
One hour less ESC? Guess the EBU wants to broadcast a full 1-hour documentary on Ukraine instead, from midnight to 1pm.
Don’t shorten, but start it an hour earlier. There’s no good reason for the show to start at 8 PM GMT when most of Europe is in the CET time zone.
Sweden gonna ruin Eurovision lol
Although the “12 points go to” is iconic, at this point it drags for too long especially since it is only the jury vote. They should figure out a way to shorten it. And less interval acts. One big interval is enough.
If speaking person (whatever is it called) doesn’t announce 12p within 10 seconds, just disconnect and make hosts say it.
Sweden always pushing their way, any chance they get. Ugh.
Does that mean that no interval act, no Abba and no Swedish self publicity? I Guess not. They Will just cut everything related to those annoying almost 30 other singers Who Will get in the way of their “marvellous” show…
And yes I am a Swedish hater. I like the Swedish men though.
It’s Sweden, so I am sure they will make some changes. And tbh, I doubt that all of them will be good. There are only a few parts of the show where they can save some time – the flag parade, the interval acts, the green room interviews… Songs, Postcards and voting are relatively hard/almost impossible to shorten. This year’s show was really long but it was also entertaining! I don’t mind a shorter show (e.g I don’t need 3 interval acts, 2 are enough…). Worst case: they change the song length to tiktok friendly 2:30 LOL (I am kidding,… Read more »
The number of songs is just right. Leave well alone.
If you want to cut some time off then do it to the interval acts. Less in quantity and more in quality. To be honest the jury votes don’t really cause a problem. Most announcers are quick to give their scores and the odd one that tries to hog the limelight doesn’t really have a negative effect. I never had a problem with the length of the show. The moment I keep looking at my watch, is the moment I stop watching Eurovision.
My vote is a soft yes. Some things can’t be cut without problems. But shaving time off the intro and interval, and streamlining the flag parade and score anouncements can go a long way. The vine rule was what, 7 seconds? Tell the representatives for the juries they have that long to do their bit before the camera will cut away and the hosts will announce the points for them. Have them be prerecorded even, since the jury show is the day before and they will know in advance. Will they be able to shave a whole hour? Maybe not.… Read more »
100% agreed. Some segments could use a Nip-and-Tuck.
I think the biggest problem is the acting numbers of the final. 26-27 competing songs is way too much. That’s why most of the time first songs screwed, nobody could remember that much performance one after another.
My suggestion would be: cut the numbers of finalist number. 7 from first semi, 7 from second semi and 6 automatic qualifiers. 20 is enough..
We have recaps and tbh, memorable performances stay in mind, or why did draws 13, 9 and 11 ? Not because they were late in the RO, nope, they were memorable. Also, we had 27 only once and the chance of getting a new one is very low
What and have Sweden turn into Auto Q ? No one wants this but Sweden
I would shorten the interval act (and the voting period) by 15 minutes *but* I’d use that time to extend the limit of a song length to 3:30 minutes, to be more in line with the current pop songs structure.
Malta is the best, Yearly
3 hours is enough. No reason to have an interval act longer than 10 – 15 minutes.
I see a lot of people bringing up the voting recaps as something that can be cut, but I’m pretty sure those are there to fill time rather than something that extra time is being added on for- if you didn’t have the recaps it wouldn’t be shorter, that time would just go to something else.
What is the core of ESC? The songs and the voting. The rest is just fillers. By cutting out you can actually have a shorter show Like this: the first song start at 21.15, after flag parade. Now with breaks included the last song can be played 22.45, since the songs together take up 78 minutes. After that a 5 minute recap leading to opening the lines. After that we go to jury votes. Providing they still take 45 minutes it will be 23.30 when its over. This leads to interval act while televotes are validated. With 20 minutes of… Read more »
Fillers is what loren of the corrupt Sweden has in her lips. all acts who will preform at esc even the interval act should be RESPECTED.
Ironic you talk about respect when you clearly dont have it seeing how you constantly trash talk Loreen, Sweden, Swedes, SVT and anything Swedish
Who Respects a Cheater ? Not me . I am not the one who has done corruption and bribery.
You call yourself “Bejba_ and accuse Sweden for cheating. That’s funny
Too funny . I have said it before and will say again that Blanka Hate is due to sexism . She won fair in square and those who doubt this Victory are trying to talk down on a Successful,Talented, Woman because of Jealously.
LOL
If the Truth is trash talk I am sorry but you just can not handle these facts and Probably are a Little Child with the way you speak .
I am 21 + not a native speaker.
Or are you talking about my typo? I wrote this one my phone, and on my on-screen-keyboard, _ is above “.
But okay, if I’m a little child to you, then it’s okay for me, because I know I’m the opposite
Nevermind he meant someone else. Wiwibloggs isn’t made for phones.
Still, calling yourself “Bejba” and accusing someone else of cheating is funny
So you just act like a child? Okay
Darling you can be mad. You’re allowed to. But you’re not gonna change anything and there’s not even one accusation of bribery this year. You can continue crying like a little baby and accusing everyone because Sweden keeps slaying but let me tell you something. Sweden will keep on winning and you can still be mad about that. Have a good cry , see you in 2024 with Sweden again in top 5.
As if ….. Sweden will cheat next Year to Top 5 and rig against countrys such as Poland,Armenya,Georgia, as always . This is fact . It is pure Politic and Corruption we all can see
Try something awesome and show evidence.
Sweden finished in 14th place in 2021 btw
Sorry but you are not dealing in facts.
If you are not happy with Sweden winning then that’s OK.
However to say that Sweden cheated is not factually correct. Sweden entered a song that met all the EBU rules and was performed to fall in line with the EBU rules. She won fair and square. If you are suggesting corruption or cheating then that’s the EBU NOT Sweden.
Are you suggesting that Finland cheated to win the televotes.
Tell the truth, you just didn’t want Sweden to win. They did…..just grow up and deal with it.
Don’t you think it’s time for you to move on, instead of this pathetic crying.
Yes, it’s too long. No need for more than 1 recap. Interval acts are not interesting.
I also would cut the number of acts in the final. Maybe we need 9 qualifiers from each semifinal.
Should Sweden…? Not really. They should stop cheating, if not even resign from the competition. Downvote me all you want, but this competition is destroyed. It’s really cringe and hard to watch anymore.
They should change…nothing. 4 hours and 15 minutes are perfect ?
The question mark is an emoji btw.
Unless you live in Eastern Europe or Kaukasus. Not everybody wants to go to sleep at 4.15 in the morning
It’s still 1.15 AM here when it ends, which is incredibly late
Yes, but why cant it be 3 hours like it was a decade ago? End just after midnight? Which still is a reasonable time. Plus then the viewers in Armenia can go to sleep at 3. 15 instead..
Because it’s impossible. The “coming up next” stuff is important to prepare big performances. The intervals are a important in order to calculate something and setting the voting screen fully up (starting everything, loading everything, etc.). From a technical perspective, at least 3h 45m is necessary, 4 hours are perfect to prevent technical problems and setting up big performances. 3 hours are just impossible, making it longer with be actually something that makes more sense. I for myself consider 3h 45m to 4h perfect, I don’t mindest a bit more. I wouldn’t watch it, if it would be six hours… Read more »
Quality first. I do not mind 4 hours if it has the content. But it does not have it. Mostly filler stuff. Three voting recaps, really? Just have one. Shorten the voting time. Do people really need 45 minutes to vote? 15 minutes is good enough.
Interval acts are nice if they relate to the contest. But most of them are singers with no relevans to the contest. Like Rita Ora. I rather have one big major interval act than 5..
Three recaps are required. How about the people that have to leave the house from song 8 to recap 2? The high amount of voting time is nothing unusual in this kind of tv shows. Rita Ora has no relevance? Did you forgot she’s from the UK? Intervals are used to show of local musicians, even if they’re popular. Though this year was special. 15 minutes are not enough, 15 minutes are a joke. Mostly “filler stuff”? You don’t get it. Again, “filler stuff” is needed for either setting up big performance or starting technical parts behind the camera like… Read more »
Swedes will do what they want , should be renamed Swedens Eurovision Song Contest
No, absolutely not shorten it. Opening acts, green room and a long voting segment (which is already shortened) is part of the exitement. For me, the show this year felt already fast and rushed. It’s over in the blink of an eye.
Isn’t it a bit ironic that SVT wants to cut the show by an hour, considering the broadcasting organisation contributed to the added time this year by setting up Loreen’s sandwich toaster stage? All be a small part; they took an extra 3-5 minutes to set up. Hence we had a longer chat at the time in the green room area. Are they implying no more big props? I hope they are implying, ‘we did this, and no one is allowed to do this again ?” Sounds all a bit ironic to me.
not implying! i mean
15 Mintutes can be cut, much more is not possible. Sweden’s SVT starts to annoy me massively, they tarnish the country as a whole. Let them have a Contest where the eurovision fans stay away.
Should Sweden be like russia
The thought of another Swedish eurovision just makes me go ‘meh…’ – I don’t know what it is, but I find their shows utterly dull, completely lacking in character. Opinion is my own.
I could do without the flag parade, would advocate a shorter voting window (who needs 45 minutes to vote?) and most definitely a shortening of the whole point giving sequence. It takes forever to get a result after the last song has been played and in my group we were all exhausted by the end. I don’t need 40-something “oh wow, what a great show” and every representative making a dramatic pause before their 12 points as if they were the last and deciding points. Just keep things moving along. Things start to deflate once the songs have been presented…… Read more »
A rather biased title: “Should Sweden shorten…” It already implies that Sweden will do all the deciding.
They do decide that, unfortunately.
The Big One 🙂
Let’s go back to the old overall points annoucement from 1 point to 12 points for each country. Just cut the blah-blah-blah and jokes from the spokepersons, useless intervall acts. They just change the vote announcement for so called too long show and guess what. The show is now longer than it was in 2004/2009. Again bad excuses.
Bring it back as it was in the 2000s : all live vocals, votes announcemment
I would only cut the time between the last act and the jury voting. Cut one recap, am interval act and maybe rush the jury spokesperson. Cut the empty space in the televote sequence of suspense. Sometimes it drags too much.
Personally I would love it if it happened. Even if it’s Eurovision, going to sleep at 1 AM is just not for me. So I’m perfectly fine with either cutting runtime or starting the show earlier.
The show will never start earlier, we have different time zones across Europe, and the EBU partners across the Eurovision network are in sync with fixed times of 8pm (UK time) start, 9pm central Europe start, 10 and even 11pm Eastern Europe start etc. Azerbaijan is the farthest East. This is primetime tv and follows many public broadcasters’ own slot and schedules. Earlier no, and later no. Australia is the odd one out, but this is an exception as we all know.
What’s the point? Personally I’m slowly losing interest in the whole event! No orchestra, recorded backing vocals – and now a shortened event – and then to top it all – a vote (that we have all been waiting for) rushed and reduced to big anti-climax. Truly what’s the point of the contest? To celebrate a winner? No, it is the big build-up to the “big night”! The entertainment value is evaporating – and quickly too!
I think Swedish influence is an issue; the show is now just basically a mega-Melfest final. Dull and predictable.
What I would ideally like is: 1. Make jury votes announcement faster. After the members of each jury vote and the results are verified, all broadcasters should film their 12 points and send the video to EBU. So the commentators will not thank the presenters endleslly. The presenters will say lets go to this country now, we will see the points from 1 to 10 and then the video with the 12 points will be aired. In this way we can have at least results from 4 countries per minutes. If 40 countries participate that means that juries vote will… Read more »
No. No NO. SVT just love to put their mark on things and it’s not wanted or necessary.
Reduce the time it takes for countries to announce their votes. Do what ASC did.
deffo agree, those attention seeking spokesperson idiots only need to say their 12 points go to … and move to the next one, no life stories pls
Of course The Corrupt Sweden wants to change the contest to their favor . Why does This always happen as Sweden hosts.. ? Next they will propose ESC to Become Juryvote only so they can continue this Corruption practices every year. Sweden Broadcasting must be Investigated and possibly even Kicked from EBU for this yearly scandal.
Take your Swedish Hate elsewhere. No one likes haters.
I do not hate . Only Love . Sorry you do not like injustice being called out.
Sweden is one of the least corrupted countries in the world by the way + SVT is a really poor underfinanced public media company. If there were any truth to your conspiracy theories it would soon be out in the open. Believe me they would all lose their jobs and be prosecuted in Swedish courts. You can sleep well at night.
Fake News from you . When a corruption is so bad as is Sweden corruption, no one even notices this because it is so normal in the society
I’m sure I read somewhere that SVT are actually advocating for the removal of jury voting!
As if this is true ……. Sounds like typical propoganda from the Elites . Sweden are jurypet.
Sweden is not like russia
One thing I have always found strange is why the contest starts at 8pm (is that 9pm Central Europe, 10pm Eastern Europe??) By bringing it one hour or even half an hour forward it would mean a far more reasonable end time for most European audiences, and I don’t see any broadcaster or viewers not being ready earlier. It’s not as if audiences in the uk for example, are desperate to watch the programmes that come in the hour before (usually a re run of pointless) I’d be grateful to learn if the EBU has ever commented on the specifics… Read more »
There was a discussion in 2016 for the GF to start an hour earlier but it was turned down – not sure who declined it if it was the EBU or the Reference Group.
Scrap the flag parade, scrap one of the interval acts, scrap 2-3 recaps and voila around 30-50 minutes have been cut right there…
The number of participants is fine, but one could easily make the televote period shorter. Why is 15 minutes not enough? For me personally, the period between the last song and the start of the voting has become too long.
Because they make money from televoting, people pay to vote.
Give us more music and less crap with the hosts or random things. Dont make it as long as Israel 2019. You can play both sides here.
Absolutely yes. The show is very long as it is right now and this makes the running order too relevant for the final results. I’d reduce the number of competing songs to about 20 and think of a way of collapsing the voting sequence. Probably enough to only get calls from countries in the final and for the public vote. I could also do with less dramatic pauses in the public vote reveal.
2 options –
Make it shorter but NOT at the expense of losing competing countries or the voting sequence. Just cut some of the interval acts and green room segments
Or
Bring forward the start time by 30mins-1hr
Unrelated but there has been a concert scheduled at friends arena the 17th (Taylor Swift). This might mean that we’re not getting esc at friends in Stockholm because of the scheduling. But on the other hand it might mean the opposite, because if there’s no esc there, the Football League will use the arena. If they’re already tearing up the turf, they might as well get another big event there, so it could mean that the final is on the 11th at Friends arena.
1. Shorten the interval acts
2. Do the recap from the last song to the first to equalize playing field for the televote
3. Let people rank their acts just like the juries do.
4. Bring back live vocals.
5. Extend the juries from 5 to 7, or 10.
Thats it. No need to reinvent the wheel.
Honestly it depends. In some previous years show was dragging and it felt super long
This year it just flew by
Ehm despite the highest U.K. ratings ever, it is clear that the absence of 100 mil. viewers from Russian market really hurts the contest.
Uhhh…The ESC lost only 20 million viewers since they’ve been gone. And it looks as if the EBU is only looking forward…
Keep it the same length and start it an hour earlier
“Grahammaxwell41 suggested on Instagram that the show should include just 15 finalists: the Big 5 plus five from each semi-final.”
I would agree with that, but perhaps do more for the eliminated semi-finalists. Give them a royal box for the final and even a vote.
why must we completely change the entire contest to “fix” something that doesn’t even need to be fixed?
Because.
That’s the reason. Because.
And Because is always a bad reason.
No way we only get Eurovision once a year – the longer the better.
They should add international jury 25% + 25% esc jury and 50% public
But the ESC jury is the international jury…smh