Germany’s national final for Eurovision 2024 has only just kicked off, but the German media landscape is ablaze with rumours that this could be NDR’s last year at the contest. According to a report by BILD, the ARD is giving Eurovision 2025 to MDR instead.
NDR are keeping quiet, MDR seemingly denying
Following the initial reporting, NDR has gone on to state that no decisions have been made yet for 2025. MDR even ended up denying the reporting, saying that Eurovision is “not an issue” for them. Indeed, as a report by MEEDIA notes, MDR is currently cutting costs, and carrying responsibility for Eurovision could therefore prove to be too expensive. What broadcaster would be up for the task if both NDR and MDR aren’t willing or able to carry the financial weight of Eurovision is an open question.
NDR, ARD, MDR, ESC: acronym city
A quick bit of context for those who need a refresher: national broadcaster ARD has always given the responsibility of organizing the German ESC entry to a regional broadcaster. After a lot of rotation, NDR has been the broadcaster of choice since 1996. NDR, or Norddeutscher Rundfunk, is the regional broadcaster for Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Hamburg, and Schleswig-Holstein. Following the recent string of poor results, it was already rumoured back in September that NDR would be replaced by MDR. MDR, which stands for Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, is the broadcaster for Thuringia, Saxony, and Saxony-Anhalt. It has extensive experience producing and broadcasting schlager music shows. If the rumours prove true, it would be likely that MDR’s Florian Silbereisen will take over Eurovision NF presenting duties from Barbara Schöneberger.
Germany’s Eurovision journey
Germany has been part of Eurovision since the beginning, debuting in 1956. Their debut entries were Walter Andreas Schwarz’s “Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück” and Freddy Quinn’s “So geht das jede Nacht”. Germany has appeared at every Eurovision except for 1996, which means they have been at more Contests than any other country. They have a long history of success in Eurovision, finishing in the top 3 an impressive 13 times. Germany has won the contest twice: Nicole won in 1982 with her song “Ein bißchen Frieden”, taking home 161 points. Their second win came in 2010, when Lena scored 246 points with her song “Satellite”.
Germany’s most recent Eurovision entry was Lord of the Lost with “Blood and Glitter”. As Germany is part of the Big 5, they automatically qualified for the Grand Final. In the Final, the song received 18 points and finished last – 26th – for the second year in a row.
Despite Lord of the Lost’s last-place finish in 2023, their performance was lauded as one of Germany’s better entries in recent years and garnered more fans for the already successful band.
Do you think Germany will use a different broadcaster next year? Would MDR bring new success? Or would you like to see a different one take the reins? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Tiktok as we look ahead to Eurovision 2024!
News Source: Rolling Stone, DWDL, Merkur, MEEDIA
Photo Credit: Corinne Cumming / EBU
Giwrgos Oiko
[…] to German broadcasters, according to DWDL.de. This news follows previous reports that Eurovision might leave NDR and that Raab was looking to get involved in the contest […]
[…] these intensified following the string of poor results, culminating in early 2024 with rumours that a change to MDR was pretty much a done deal. While these rumours turned out to be untrue, we now know that SWR (Südwestrundfunk, responsible […]