The second semi-finals of the ESC 2023 will take place on May 11th, and the finals on May 13th. Here are facts about the rating system to be perfectly prepared for the event.
On May 13, 2023, the 26 finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest, “ESC” for short, will compete against each other in the singing competition. The viewers can decide on winners (and losers) together with the jury. The music competition will be decided live using a rating system.
The basic rule is – be careful, now it’s getting mathematical: The ten best titles are rated with one to eight or ten and twelve points. The jury and audience ratings have been separated since 2016. Each country can therefore give a participant up to 24 points: twelve by the jury, twelve by the spectators. This then adds up to a top ten from ten countries. First place receives 12 points from the jury, second place ten points, third place eight and the following places receive points according to their placement.
The ESC 2023 rating system – and how it works
Since the ESC 2016, a “Reference Group” has decided on the winning act. Since then, the points from the expert jury and the audience no longer merge into an overall rating, but are added up separately, as can also be read on “Eurovision.de”. The most important innovation of the system is that the jury cannot completely undermine the audience rating thanks to the separate award of points.
This means: The points awarded by the viewers are compared with the jury’s verdict as a percentage. National juries and the television viewers therefore decide on the winners. Fans from countries that are not taking part in the competition can also vote online – but this is subject to a fee.
In the final, the national representatives or their jury name their top ten and then the number of points per country. The results of the audience voting will be announced separately by the moderators. In 2023 they are Graham Norton, Hannah Waddingham, Alesha Dixon and Julia Sanina. The resulting points are then added to the jury’s points, depending on the weighting per country. Whoever then has the highest total number of points at the end wins the ESC.
Incidentally, on Saturday, May 13th, moderator Elton, as the German spokesperson for the ESC 2023 live from Hamburg, will award the twelve points of the German juries.
This is how you have a say
You can actively help shape the evaluation as a viewer in several stages. That was already possible this year in the preliminary decision phase (beginning of March), by voting in the live broadcast which bands or musicians would be presenting in Germany this year.
Everything else runs on the live dates on television. In Germany, you can use televoting, an app and SMS to help determine who wins. However, only when all acts have performed in the finale.
This step is followed by prominent country representatives reading out the nation that received a maximum score of 12 from the participating country. However, the other ratings are also shown and added together in the view in which you can see the rankings.
Important voting facts and rules of thumb
- A maximum of 20 people can participate per connection.
- Telephone costs of at least 14 cents are incurred for each voting. In addition, participation via SMS costs 20 cents as much as an evaluation via the app.
- You can’t vote for your own country.
More about the ESC
In the 2023 semifinals, acts from Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, the Czech Republic, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway made it into the final. The motto of the ESC this year is “United by Music”.
Actually, Ukraine should have hosted the current competition, but due to the Russian war of aggression, this rule was broken. Instead, Britain is now hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in cooperation with Ukraine. The M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool will be the venue for the 67th Eurovision Song Contest 2023.
The ESC has been organized annually by the European Broadcasting Union as part of Eurovision since 1956.