As pointed out by DWDL.de to ARD director of programme, Christine Strobl, the public broadcaster is planning a national selection spanning over multiple broadcasters.
ARD wants to collaborate with multiple broadcasters
Strobel promoted a cross-broadcaster iniative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2028 at the TV summit during the Medientage München event in Munich. According to the director of programme it has been one of her biggest dreams to launch a collaboration across the public and private broadcasters to find Germany’s entry for 2028. This already confirmst Germany’s interest in participating in the Song Contest after the upcoming one. Previously SWR has confirmed that roughly 400 songs were submitted for the national final Das Deutsche Finale 2027. It seems like Strobel wants to inscrease interest inside the German music scene. However there are currently no concrete plans or a timetable for that initiative.
Which broadcasters are interested?
Head of Content Inga Leschek from RTL backed up Strobel’s idea and recalled the previous collaboration between ARD and RTL for the national selection in 2025 where Abor & Tynna were selected to represent Germany at the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 witht their viral hit “Baller”. Leschek called it the most beautiful partnership they’ve had since 2025 and emphasized a potential future collaboration. In addition Chief Content Officer Henrik Pabst from ProSiebenSat.1 has also shown interest in a potential collaboration, however it would require constructive discussions and when the end result would show good signs. It’s unclear at this point if the other public broadcaster ZDF would also be invited or has any interest in a collaborative effort at all.
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 Sarah Engels with “Fire”. As Germany is part of the Big 5, they automatically qualified for the Grand Final. In the Final, the song received 12 points and finished in 23rd place, all of which came from the jury.
Would you be excited about a big German national final spanning across multiple broadcasters? What do you think about ARD’s ambitions? As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. As always, let us know what you think by commenting below. Also, be sure to follow ‘That Eurovision Site’ on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, and ZOOP for more information on all things Eurovision!
News source: DWDL.de
Photo Credit: Medientage München