Eurovision USA – Eurovision’s First Global Steps
In 2006 ahead of the 51st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens, Greece it was announced that NBC had secured the rights to a Eurovision Song Contest for the United States. The premise of the contest was simple to bring singers from all the 50 states of the United States of America plus the District of Columbia together to find the best singer in the United States. The contest was announced as a response to the ratings hit โAmerican Idolโ run by FOX.
How would the contest have worked?
Each state would have held online selection processes to select their singer. Amateur and professional singers would be able to put themselves forward to represent their state. The representative for each state would be selected by internet voting, with the winner going through to the televised show. It was not announced whether all 50 states would go straight into a final or through a series of shows. At the end of the contest the winner would receive a recording contract and will see their single produced and released by a major record label. The winner would be determined by 100% public voting, how this would occur was not announced.
What happened to Eurovision USA?
After the initial media reports in February 2006 talk about the contest dried up. The Production company Reveille now known as Endemol Shine North America released no further information about the contest. Reports continued on the contest from various media outlets about the contest includingย Metroย who reported the contest would be a multi-week event.
American Song Contest
During the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 in Sweden, it was revealed that the European Broadcasting Union was looking at exporting the format to the United States. In 2022 the first season of the American Song Contest was broadcast on NBC, find out more about the contest and follow all the news on Eurovoix World.
The United States and Eurovision
Logo TV an LGBT-focused channel owned by Viacom broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest final live between 2016 and 2018. The contest however has had minimal ratings impact in the US. Viewing figures for the Eurovision Song Contest on Logo TV:
- 2016 – 52,000 viewers
- 2017 – 64,000 viewers
- 2018 – 74,000 viewers
In 2019 the EBU announced that the contest would be available via Netflix from July 2019 until early 2021. Following the announcement of the American Song Contest the Eurovision Song Contest has been available to watch live via NBC’s streaming service Peacock starting in 2021.