Why the Eurovision semi-final qualifying announcement has changed

In today's Eurovision 2025 semi-final, a new format of how the qualifiers were announced was revealed.

The first nine qualifiers were shown in a split screen of three artists at a time.

This meant the audience would know that one of those three acts would go through.

The tenth and final qualifier reverted back to the hosts rather than a split screen of the six remaining acts.

It's a controversial decision, and in a media briefing at the Eurovision media centre on Monday, the reasons were explained by the Swiss organisers alongside the EBU.

Capturing the emotion

They explained that in previous contests, the hosts announced the qualifiers and there was a delay in seeing the artist's reaction.

The new change is to capture the positive emotions of the artist.

"That way we actually see when they cheer their own name [being read out]," a spokesperson explained.

"And that's what we want to capture; we're trying to get as much of the positive emotions."

Fariness to nations

They also explained that giving fair time to each country was also part of the decision.

"If you look back at previous years, some countries have been shown an extensive number of moments during the qualifying," they said.

"Some are shown seven times, others only once, even if they qualified or not."

Artist welfare

Questions were raised at the briefing about artists' welfare and whether being shown multiple times, missing out and, ultimately, non-qualifying is harmful.

They've tackled that by not showing a split screen of the last acts to qualify in the 10th spot.

The camera will be on the host to avoid exposing the artists to a large audience seeing their disappointment in real time.

Do you like the new way qualifiers were announced?

• Yes, I think it works better
• No, I prefer the old way
• I'm not sure

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