Eurovision Song Contest 2019
The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It consisted of two semi-finals on 14 and 16 May and a final on 18 May 2019, held at Expo Tel Aviv in Tel Aviv, Israel, and presented by Erez Tal, Assi Azar, Lucy Ayoub, and Bar Refaeli. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union and host broadcaster the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, which staged the event after winning the for with the song "Toy" by Netta.
Broadcasters from forty-one countries participated in the contest, with and not returning after their participation in the previous edition. Bulgarian National Television cited financial difficulties as the reason for its absence, while the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, which had originally planned to participate, ultimately withdrew as a result of a controversy surrounding.
The winner was the with the song "Arcade", performed by Duncan Laurence and written by Laurence along with Joel Sjöö, Wouter Hardy and Will Knox.,,, and rounded out the top five; due to a voting error, was originally placed fifth, but placed sixth after a correction. The Netherlands won the combined vote, but placed third in the jury vote after and Sweden, and second in the televote after Norway. Further down the table, North Macedonia and achieved their best results to date, finishing seventh and 19th respectively.
The EBU reported that the contest had an audience of 182 million viewers in 40 European markets, a decrease of four million viewers from the previous edition. However, an increase of two percent in the 15–24 year old age range was reported. The lead-up to the contest was met with controversy on multiple fronts, primarily on issues surrounding the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, eventually leading to demonstrations by interval act performer Madonna and Icelandic entrants Hatari during the broadcast of the final.
Location
The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation staged the 2019 contest in Tel Aviv, after winning the for with the song "Toy" performed by Netta. It was the third time that the contest was held in Israel, after the and contests in Jerusalem. The selected venue was Expo Tel Aviv's 7,300-seat congress and convention centre in "Bitan 2", which was opened in January 2015. Located on Rokach Boulevard in northern Tel Aviv, the convention centre serves as a venue for many events, including concerts, exhibitions, trade fairs, and conferences. The fairground has ten halls and pavilions, plus a large outdoor space. The new pavilion had recently hosted the 2018 European Judo Championships from 26 to 28 April.Bidding phase
After Netta's win in the 2018 contest, both she and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed confidence that the 2019 contest could be held in Jerusalem. Israeli finance minister Moshe Kahlon also said in an interview that the event would be held solely in Jerusalem and estimated its cost at . The mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, mentioned Pais Arena and Teddy Stadium as possible venues to host the event. The municipality of Jerusalem confirmed that because it lacked the seating capacity, the contest would not be held at the International Convention Centre, which had hosted the contest in 1979 and 1999. The event organisers, the European Broadcasting Union and incoming host broadcaster Kan, made no comment on the matter.The EBU had allowed Kan to participate in the 2018 contest without having yet become a full member of the union, while its membership application was being reviewed. On 18 June 2018, Netanyahu stated that the Israeli government had committed to remaining in compliance with EBU rules regarding the constitution of member broadcasters, so as not to affect Kan's right to host the 2019 contest; the broadcaster's establishment included a condition that news programming would be delegated later to a second public broadcasting entity, which would have violated EBU rules requiring member broadcasters to have their own internal news departments. The following day, Kan was officially confirmed as the host broadcaster for 2019, and on 24 June, it formally opened the bidding process for cities interested in hosting the event. Israeli deputy minister Michael Oren stated to Malta's TVM that Jerusalem did not have the resources to host the contest on 28 July, reiterating that Tel Aviv was the more likely host. Oren also indicated that hosting the contest in Tel Aviv would "solve the whole problem"; TVM interpreted this as a nod to the disputed status of Jerusalem, with both Israel and Palestine claiming the city as their capital.
Soon afterwards, reports surfaced of the government not providing the downpayment requested by Kan to cover hosting expenses and security. Following a tense back-and-forth between Kan and the government, a compromise between the two parties was reached on 29 July 2018 that would see Kan paying the to the EBU and the Finance Ministry covering expenses should complications arise. The mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, stated that the city would be willing to pay for the convention centre itself, should it be chosen as the host city.
In the week of 27 August 2018, executive supervisor Jon Ola Sand led a handful of EBU delegates around Israel to look at potential venues in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and to hear the bid from Eilat. On 30 August, Sand stated in an interview with Kan that Eilat was no longer in the running to host, leaving Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as the remaining cities in the running. He added that there was no serious discussion among EBU members about boycotting the event. On 13 September, the EBU announced Tel Aviv as the host city, with Expo Tel Aviv as the chosen venue for the 2019 contest. On 7 December, the EBU General Assembly approved Kan's membership application.
Key:
Host venue
Shortlisted venues
| City | Venue | Notes |
| Eilat | Hangars on the port | Proposal intended to connect two hangars to a hall, in order to meet the EBU's capacity and venue requirements. |
| Haifa | Sammy Ofer Stadium | Candidacy had been dependent on the construction of a roof. |
| Jerusalem | Pais Arena ‡ | Indoor arena similar to the venues of recent contests. It was Jerusalem's preferred venue, in case it was chosen to be the host city. |
| Jerusalem | Teddy Stadium | Candidacy had been dependent on the construction of a roof. |
| Tel Aviv | Expo Tel Aviv † | The IPBC expected Pavilion 2 to have room for up to 9,000 attendees, while an additional 1,500 fans will be able to gather in the greenroom. |
Other sites
Located at the Charles Clore Park in Tel Aviv, the Eurovision Village was the official Eurovision Song Contest fan and sponsors' area during the events week. It was open from 12 to 18 May 2019. There it was possible to watch performances by local artists, as well as the live shows broadcast from the main venue.The EuroClub was located at Hangar 11 in Tel Aviv Port and was the venue for the official after-parties and private performances by contest participants. Unlike the Eurovision Village, access to the EuroClub was restricted to accredited fans, delegates, and press.
The "Orange Carpet" event, where the contestants and their delegations are presented before the accredited press and fans, took place at Habima Square in central Tel Aviv on 12 May 2019, followed by the Opening Ceremony at the Charles Bronfman Auditorium.
Participants
Eligibility for potential participation in the Eurovision Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active EBU membership capable of receiving the contest via the Eurovision network and broadcasting it live nationwide. The EBU issued an invitation to participate in the contest to all active member broadcasters. The Israeli minister of communications, Ayoob Kara, expressed his interest in inviting other countries from the MENA region with which Israel either had tense or no diplomatic relations. He specifically named Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The EBU member in is eligible to participate and is already invited every year, but has never participated in the contest, while the national broadcasters of the Gulf states do not have EBU membership, which made them ineligible to participate.The EBU initially announced on 7 November 2018 that broadcasters from 42 countries would participate in the contest, with Bulgarian National Television representing opting not to participate for financial reasons and to allow members of the delegation to moving onto other projects. The Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine representing announced its withdrawal from the contest on 27 February 2019 as a result of a controversy surrounding, thereby reducing the number of participants to 41.
On 6 March 2019, the EBU confirmed that would take part for the first time under its new name, instead of the previous name of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia which had been used since the country's debut in 1998.
| Country | Broadcaster | Artist | Song | Language | Songwriter |
| RTSH | Jonida Maliqi | "Ktheju tokës" | Albanian | Eriona Rushiti | |
| AMPTV | Srbuk | "Walking Out" | English | ||
| SBS | Kate Miller-Heidke | "Zero Gravity" | English | ||
| ORF | Paenda | "Limits" | English | Paenda | |
| İTV | Chingiz | "Truth" | English | ||
| BTRC | Zena | "Like It" | English | ||
| RTBF | Eliot | "Wake Up" | English | ||
| HRT | Roko | "The Dream" | English, Croatian | ||
| CyBC | Tamta | "Replay" | English | ||
| ČT | Lake Malawi | "Friend of a Friend" | English | ||
| DR | Leonora | "Love Is Forever" | English, French, Danish | ||
| ERR | Victor Crone | "Storm" | English | ||
| Yle | Darude Sebastian Rejman | "Look Away" | English | ||
| France Télévisions | Bilal Hassani | "Roi " | French, English | ||
| GPB | Oto Nemsadze | "Keep On Going" | Georgian | ||
| NDR | Sisters | "Sister" | English | ||
| ERT | Katerine Duska | "Better Love" | English | ||
| MTVA | Joci Pápai | "Az én apám" | Hungarian | ||
| RÚV | Hatari | "Hatrið mun sigra" | Icelandic | Hatari | |
| RTÉ | Sarah McTernan | "22" | English | ||
| IPBC | Kobi Marimi | "Home" | English | ||
| RAI | Mahmood | "Soldi" | Italian | ||
| LTV | Carousel | "That Night" | English | ||
| LRT | Jurij Veklenko | "Run with the Lions" | English | ||
| PBS | Michela | "Chameleon" | English | ||
| TRM | Anna Odobescu | "Stay" | English | ||
| RTCG | D mol | "Heaven" | English | ||
| AVROTROS | Duncan Laurence | "Arcade" | English | ||
| MRT | Tamara Todevska | "Proud" | English | ||
| NRK | Keiino | "Spirit in the Sky" | English, Northern Sámi | ||
| TVP | Tulia | "Fire of Love " | Polish, English | ||
| RTP | Conan Osíris | "Telemóveis" | Portuguese | Conan Osíris | |
| TVR | Ester Peony | "On a Sunday" | English | ||
| RTR | Sergey Lazarev | "Scream" | English | ||
| SMRTV | Serhat | "Say Na Na Na" | English | ||
| RTS | Nevena Božović | "Kruna " | Serbian | ||
| RTVSLO | Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl | "Sebi " | Slovene | ||
| RTVE | Miki | "La venda" | Spanish | Adrià Salas | |
| SVT | John Lundvik | "Too Late for Love" | English | ||
| SRG SSR | Luca Hänni | "She Got Me" | English | ||
| BBC | Michael Rice | "Bigger than Us" | English |