SVT: ‘We need to ensure that everyone can get involved’

Many national European broadcasters are facing financial problems nowadays. Broadcaster SVT, which is producing the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, is aware that they have a big responsibility to get as many countries on board as possible.

“We want to make a statement and take things forward when it comes to the production of the show, “ said Christer Björkman to other EBU Members in Berlin. 20 Head of Delegations got together in Germany for a ESC Workshop about the secret of success in the contest.

“We have to look at what’s happening in Europe right now and there are enormous challenges when it comes to spending etc. This is a show that unites Europe and we have a responsibility to ensure that everyone can get involved.” This suggests that SVT wants to reduce the participation costs for delegations even more.

Secret of success
Björman also spoke about the reasons if the Swedish success in the contest. He discussed the long-running 6-week Melodifestivalen format of choosing an entry for the Eurovision Song Contest that’s given his country seven Top-5 placings in the past thirteen years, including two wins: “The aim is to get the whole family to sit down together – to create a social phenomenon like Christmas with songs for everybody,” he said.

“We pick the best we can find in any given genre from rock to pop to ballads. Good TV is good storytelling – we give the audience a soap opera over six weeks. The media gets close to the artists – they get good stories and create a buzz around the event which brings the audience closer. We’ve also used international juries to pick the song we send to Eurovision since 2011 and that’s given us two winners,” Mr Björkman added.