🇸🇪Malmö 2024

Overview

«Ideal Eurovision 2024» was the 5th contest in the «Ideal Eurovision» franchise, held in April 2024. A total of 37 countries, along with 37 heads of delegations, participated in the contest. The show consisted of the First Semi-Final (31 March), the Second Semi-Final (7 April) and a Grand Final (April 14 2023). A total of 26 countries competed in the Grand Final. After tallying the jury and televote scores, Switzerland won «Ideal Eurovision 2023». The country was represented by Nemo Mettler with the song «The Code», earning a total of 282 points. Austria with Kaleen - «We Will Rave», and Italy with Annalisa - «Sinceramente» were second and third, respectively.

Interesting fact: Switzerland got the same amount of points both from the juries and televoters at the Grand Final ; 141 points from each, giving the country 282 points in total.

The main platform for the show was the Telegram-blog "Eurovision Live" again. The show was broadcasted at the Official YouTube-channel of Ideal Eurovision Song Contest. Moreover, it was the very first time the contest announcements and main covering of it was held at the special «Ideal Eurovision» Telegram-Channel. Additionally, the Heads of Delegations were able to set their own performances at the special constructed arena and stage. The stage was constructed by the model of annual Melodifestivalen concept.

Production

The "Ideal Eurovision Song Contest 2024" became the fifth competition in this franchise. The Grand Final was held in April 2024, a year after the victory of the duo Teya & Salena in the 2023 contest.

On December 30, 2023, following the success of the Junior competition with high ratings, Ideal Eurovision Council announced that the "Ideal Eurovision Song Contest 2024" would officially take place. That same month, the representatives for Albania, Czechia, and France were already revealed. Organizers also stated that the application process would open soon.

On January 8, 2024, the decision was made to create a dedicated Telegram channel to cover all the detailed news about the "Ideal Eurovision Song Contest." Applications were open from January 15 to January 19, 2024, allowing anyone interested to apply and try to become a Head of Delegation for a participating country. On January 19, the Ideal Eurovision Council team shared that they had received around 120 applications, selecting the 37 best candidates. On the same day, the list of chosen participants was published.

On January 25, 2024, the Country Draw of participating countries took place among the Heads of Delegations. Each participant in our contest was assigned one of the countries through a live-streamed draw.

On February 10, 2024, the Ideal Eurovision Council announced that, possibly for the first time in the history of the contest, the Heads of Delegations would have the opportunity to design their own stage performances, with each country conducting its own recordings in a specially constructed arena in Roblox. On February 12, this information was confirmed. The Ideal Eurovision Council published a set of rules regarding stage performances, stating that the Heads of Delegations were prohibited from disclosing information about their entries in advance. On February 14, the first images of the arena under construction were revealed. On February 19, 2024, the first full photo of the nearly completed stage was unveiled.

On February 13, 2024, the Allocation Draw took place, during which countries were divided into two Semi-Finals. The draw was broadcasted live.

On February 22, 2024, the dates for the Ideal Eurovision Song Contest 2024 were announced: the Semi-Finals would be held on March 31 and April 7, with the Grand Final set for April 14, 2024.

The filming of stage performances in the arena took place from February 29 (with the first rehearsals by Luxembourg and Slovenia) to March 20, 2024. Spain's performance was the final one to be recorded.

On March 7, it was announced that, although the original Eurovision Song Contest uses televoting only in the Semi-Finals, this contest would maintain the 50/50 jury and public voting system. Additionally, throughout March, the names of various guest performers appearing in the Semi-Finals and the Grand Final were revealed, including Baby Lasagna, Tali, Hera Bjork, Natalia Barbu, and others.

On March 15, 2024, the Running Order for both Semi-Finals was published, along with a special Spotify playlist featuring all contest entries for the Ideal Eurovision Song Contest 2024. On March 17, the Ideal Eurovision Council announced the host of the contest, Konstantin Jakobs. On March 20, the Ideal Eurovision Council used a draw to determine the positions of the Big Five countries in the Grand Final.

As in the previous year, the Ideal Eurovision Council decided to raffle Telegram Premium subscriptions among those who voted in the Semi-Finals and the Grand Final. Voting for the first Semi-Final took place from March 25 to March 27, 2024, with 846 votes received. The first Semi-Final aired on March 31. Voting for the second Semi-Final occurred from April 1 to April 3, 2024, with 881 votes collected. The second Semi-Final aired on April 7, 2024.

On April 7, 2024, the Running Order for the Grand Final was announced, and voting for the Grand Final opened the same day. Voting closed on April 9, with 1,839 votes received. The Grand Final was held on April 14, 2024.

Errors / Unplanned moments during the show period.

• March 16, 2024: During Armenia's performance filming, an unidentified person ran onto the stage holding a sign saying, "What is this cringe?" A similar incident occurred two days later during Italy's performance shoot.

• The Head of Delegation for Belgium was excused from voting in the first Semi-Final, and the points were distributed randomly. In the Grand Final, they deliberately skipped voting, leading the Ideal Eurovision Council to allocate points to the then-current Top 10.

• Armenia's Head of Delegation fell asleep during the announcement of the first Semi-Final results. Notably, Armenia qualified for the Grand Final.

• The contest host, Konstantin Jakobs, appeared only in the Grand Final. He was absent during the Semi-Finals due to being hospitalized at the time.

• The Head of Delegation for Belgium was excused from voting in the first Semi-Final, with points being assigned randomly. In the Grand Final, they deliberately abstained from voting, and the Ideal Eurovision Council allocated points to the Top 10 at that moment