The Eurovision Song Contest 2019 was the 64th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest.
It took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, following the country’s victory at the 2018 contest with the song “Toy” by Netta.
Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan), the contest was held at Expo Tel Aviv, and consisted of two semi-finals on 14 and 16 May, and a final on 18 May 2019.
The three live shows were presented by Israeli television presenters Erez Tal, Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub, and Israeli model Bar Refaeli.
Forty-one countries participated in the contest, with Bulgaria and Ukraine not returning after their participation in the previous edition. Members of Bulgaria’s delegation had been moved to other projects, while Ukraine, which had originally planned to participate, ultimately withdrew as a result of a controversy surrounding its national selection.
The winner was the Netherlands with the song “Arcade”, performed by Duncan Laurence and written by Laurence along with Joel Sjöö, Wouter Hardy and Will Knox.
The EBU reported that the contest had an audience of 182 million viewers in 40 European markets, a decrease of 4 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 – this eventually led to demonstrations by interval act performer Madonna and Icelandic entrants Hatari during the broadcast of the final.
Following friends’ comments on Facebook, and hearing my wife’s verdict – confirms my thoughts. No-one is talking about the Netherlands, my wife thinks it’s nothing special. I would be astonished if it came anywhere near winning. I think it’s probably Switzerland’s year although I have money on Australia and obviously want them to win.