It’s been a call made by many fans for several years, but it appears it will now be a reality. The first major change rung in by SVT for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest will see Sweden, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom recieve extra exposure with performance videos shown of their rehearsals during live shows, currently set to take place on 10th and 12th May 2016.
Under the pre-2015 format, the only chance most of Europe would get to see the performances by the prequalified nations would be in the final. While this results in the largest single audience to expose to, semi-finalists get two live shows to perform in and as a result can get more exposure and attention for those who watch all three shows. With this new rule, the EBU seem set to minimise this effect, however SVT stops short of providing these countries a full 3 minute slot each to perform live. It remains to be seen exactly how this rule change will be implemented.
Executive supervisor of the contest, Jon Ola Sand, said in a statement today;
“It will look so much better to show the Big Five and the host country on the Eurovision Song Contest stage, performing their act as it will be in the Grand Final”
The Big 5 and Sweden will therefore get extra rehearsal time during the semi-final rehearsals and will also gain through increased exposure of arriving into Stockholm earlier.
What do you think, is this a change for the better or could more be done?
