2025 Eurovision Song Contest: A Global TV Event

You might think you know Eurovision, but the 2025 contest in Basel shattered expectations at nearly every turn. Switzerland hosted for the first time since 1989, following Nemo's historic 2024 win as the first openly non-binary Eurovision champion. A record 166 million viewers tuned in across 37 countries, while protests over Israel's participation sparked global debate. With a 36,000-capacity public viewing site and a stunning 2,000-square-meter stage, there's plenty more to discover about this landmark edition.

Key Takeaways

• The 2025 Eurovision Song Contest, its 69th edition, was hosted in Basel, Switzerland, after Nemo's historic win at the 68th contest.
• St. Jakob-Park became Eurovision's largest public viewing site, hosting 36,000 fans during the Grand Final alone.
• A total of 37 countries competed, with 100,000 tickets sold to fans travelling from 83 different countries worldwide.
• The Grand Final was co-hosted by Michelle Hunziker, Hazel Brugger, and Sandra Studer, with Brugger and Studer anchoring all three shows.
• Basel's theme "Unity Shapes Love" drew on Swiss traditions of dialogue and direct democracy, reinforcing Eurovision's role in cultural diplomacy.

What Made Eurovision 2025 Historic?

The 2025 Eurovision Song Contest marked the competition's 69th edition, carrying forward a legacy that began with just seven countries in 1956 and has since grown into a 37-nation spectacle.

You're watching a contest that survived geopolitical shifts, including the Soviet Union's dissolution, and continuously expanded its reach through smart structural reforms.

The 1996 qualification system and 2008 semi-final expansion transformed how nations compete, shaping voter psychology by creating high-stakes elimination rounds before the Grand Final.

Switzerland's hosting in Basel reinforced Eurovision's role in cultural diplomacy, positioning music as a shared language across political boundaries.

The "Unity Shapes Love" theme, developed by Art Director Artur Deyneuve, deepened that message by drawing on Swiss traditions of dialogue and direct democracy, making 2025 a genuinely meaningful milestone. At the junior level, France claimed four Junior Eurovision victories, tying Georgia for the most wins in the competition's history.

Why Was Basel Chosen to Host Eurovision 2025?

Basel's selection as Eurovision 2025's host city came down to a three-pillar framework: venue quality, availability, and city planning. The Halle Saint-Jacques concert hall gave Basel a structural advantage, reducing construction demands that Geneva's Palexpo would've required despite its larger space. Basel also secured an extended stadium availability window, giving organizers extra scheduling flexibility for setup and breakdown.

City branding played a decisive role too. Basel adopted the motto "Welcome Home" and designated the entire city as Eurovision-dedicated space, signaling a community-centered vision rather than a venue-only approach.

Logistical planning extended to fan infrastructure, with St. Jakobshalle serving as a 36,000-capacity fan venue and Ticketcorner handling online ticket sales from January 30, 2025. Together, these factors made Basel the stronger, more prepared candidate. The contest dates were confirmed for 13th, 15th, and 17th of May 2025, locking in the official production timeline.

The Venue and Setup That Hosted Eurovision 2025

Once Basel secured the hosting rights, its venues had to match the city's ambitious vision.

St. Jakobshalle handled stage logistics as the central venue, fitting 6,500 spectators across all nine live shows.

Meanwhile, crowd management scaled dramatically at St. Jakob-Park, which became Eurovision's largest public viewing site ever with 36,000 fans attending the Grand Final.

The stage itself was technically impressive:

1. 2,000 square meters of floor space with nearly 1,000 square meters of LED displays
2. 100 pyrotechnic systems and thousands of light fixtures throughout the venue
3. A trapezoid-shaped main stage featuring a giant LED arch and Swiss Alps-inspired backdrop

Beyond the arena, Eurovision Boulevard, the Eurovision Village, and EuroClub at Messe Basel kept fans engaged citywide. St. Jakob-Park also hosted Arena Plus, a live-concert and public viewing experience organized under the host city's responsibility and estimated to cost around CHF 2.5 million.

How Many Countries Competed and Who Was Missing?

With Moldova withdrawing after initially confirming participation, 37 countries ultimately competed in Eurovision 2025 — one more than in 2024, though still below the record 40 nations from 2022. Understanding participation trends helps you appreciate the contest's shifting scale.

Six automatic qualifiers — the Big Five plus host Switzerland — bypassed the semi finals entirely. The remaining 31 nations navigated semi final dynamics across May 13 and May 15, with 20 advancing to join the 26-nation Grand Final. Montenegro made its return after a two-year absence, bringing a familiar face in Nina Žižić, who had previously represented the country back in 2013.

Among the missing countries, Russia and Belarus remained excluded, while Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and North Macedonia didn't return. Andorra, Bosnia Herzegovina, Slovakia, Morocco, and Monaco were also absent. Montenegro's return partially offset these gaps, but the overall roster still reflected a noticeably smaller field than Eurovision's peak years.

The Controversies That Defined Eurovision 2025

Eurovision 2025 didn't just make headlines for its music — it sparked fierce debate over Israel's continued participation amid the ongoing Gaza conflict. 72 former contestants signed an open letter demanding Israel's exclusion, accusing the EBU of normalizing "crimes against humanity" and applying a double standard by banning Russia in 2022 while allowing Israel to compete.

Three key flashpoints defined the controversy:

1. Street protests — Around 10,000 demonstrators rallied in Basel, chanting "No stage for genocide"
2. Broadcast boycotts — Ireland, Iceland, Slovenia, and the Netherlands threatened withdrawal over Israel's involvement
3. Voting scandal — Several countries requested an audit after Israel topped the public vote, alleging government interference

The EBU's struggle to maintain political neutrality ultimately forced it to announce sweeping voting system changes for 2026. During the contest's third dress rehearsal, six protesters disrupted the second semi-final by storming the stage with whistles and oversized Palestinian flags during Israeli entrant Yuval Raphael's performance.

How Did the Eurovision 2025 Voting System Work?

At the heart of Eurovision 2025's format was a dual-voting structure that split final scores equally between professional jury panels and public televotes, each carrying 50% of the total weight.

Both sources distributed points to the top 10 songs using the 12, 10, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 scale.

Regarding jury composition, each country's broadcaster appointed five professional music industry members per national panel.

For televote mechanics, you could cast up to 20 votes per payment method through calls, SMS, or the official Eurovision app, though you couldn't vote for your own country.

Rest of the World votes functioned as an additional country, and with 37 participating nations combined, each song could theoretically earn 876 maximum points.

Semi-finals, however, ran entirely on public televoting without jury involvement. In these semi-finals, national juries served only as a backup voting mechanism in cases where televoting failed to deliver valid results.

Who Presented the Eurovision 2025 Grand Final?

Behind the voting machinery that shaped Eurovision 2025's results stood three hosts who guided the Grand Final broadcast: Michelle Hunziker, Hazel Brugger, and Sandra Studer. Their host dynamics brought distinct presenter backgrounds together on Basel's stage.

Here's what defined each host:

1. Michelle Hunziker — 47 years old, with 30 years of television experience across Germany and Italy, joining exclusively for the Grand Final.
2. Hazel Brugger — 31-year-old award-winning comedian and heute-show correspondent with American, German, and Swiss roots.
3. Sandra Studer — 56-year-old singer-presenter who represented Switzerland at Eurovision 1991 and co-hosted both semi-finals on May 13 and May 15.

While Hunziker elevated the finale's star power, Brugger and Studer anchored the entire three-show format. The three-presenter format has in fact been the most commonly used hosting arrangement at Eurovision since 2010.

How Nemo's 2024 Win Brought Eurovision Back to Switzerland

Nemo's victory at the 68th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö on May 11, 2024, didn't just make history — it brought the contest back to Switzerland for the first time since 1989. Scoring 591 points, Nemo became the first openly non-binary performer to win Eurovision, delivering a powerful moment for gender visibility on one of the world's biggest stages.

The cultural impact extended beyond the trophy, as Switzerland immediately inherited hosting logistics for 2025. Organizing a contest of this scale demands significant infrastructure, international coordination, and financial investment, all of which directly benefit the local economy.

Nemo's win — Switzerland's third overall after 1956 and 1988 — proved that strong jury support (365 points) combined with genuine public enthusiasm (226 points) can produce a historically significant result. Following the victory, Nemo publicly called on the Swiss government to legally recognise a third gender, continuing advocacy that had begun after a 2022 rejection of the proposal.

How Many People Watched Eurovision 2025?

When Nemo's 2024 win handed Switzerland the hosting duties, it also set the stage for one of Eurovision's most-watched editions in decades. Across 37 countries, 166 million viewers tuned in, reflecting strong viewing demographics worldwide.

Three standout numbers tell the story:

1. 47.7% average viewing share across all broadcasters — more than double typical channel averages
2. 60.4% viewing share among 15-to-24-year-olds — the highest youth figure ever recorded
3. 369.5 million YouTube reach between May 3–24, confirming streaming impact on global audiences

Germany pulled 9 million viewers with a 64.3% share, while Iceland led all nations at 97.8%.

Switzerland itself saw a 57% year-on-year jump, proving home-field advantage extends well beyond the arena. The nine shows across the event, including dress rehearsals and live broadcasts, sold 100,000 tickets to fans arriving from 83 countries around the world.