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Sweden: Problem with the voting in the first heat of Melodifestivalen 2024!

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As every year, one of the biggest national finals, which captures the interest of eurofans, is the one in Sweden, the Melodifestivalen. Many people vote for their favourite artists in order to represent the country in the Eurovision Song Contest. If we look at last year’s numbers of voters in all the Melodifestivalen qualifiers, the number was between 512,000 and 542,000.

However, this year in the first qualifying round that number has plummeted to just over 460,000. Has the public’s interest waned? If we look at the programme’s viewing figures in conjunction with the number of voting units (i.e. the number of applications and the number of phones that voted) in each semi-final, we would come to anything but that conclusion.

Specifically:

  • Round 1 – Spectators: 2.900.000
    Number of voting units: 460,794
  • Round 2 – Viewers: 2,858,000
    Number of voting units: 589,162
  • Stage 3 – Spectators: 2,755,000
    Number of voting units: 567,234
  • Stage 4 – Spectators: 2,753,000
    Number of voting units: 555,108

There was a problem with the voting and the Melodifestivalen app in the first heat.

More specifically, according to exclusive information from Aftonbladet and Tobbe Ek, about 100,000 votes were lost in the first preliminary round of Melodifestivalen. Many viewers contacted Aftonbladet during the first round of the competition and reported that they could not get into the app to vote. According to SVT, this has not affected the outcome of the contest. However, the data suggests that there may be a lack of votes from almost 100,000 people.

During the contest, SVT will no longer publish the total number of votes in the different contests. Instead, it will announce the number of voting units.

What project manager Anders Wistbacka says.

The day after the first round, Melodifestivalen’s programme manager Anders Wistbacka confirmed that there were problems with the application and that this was due to an overloaded server. At the same time, however, he said that this did not affect the result.

“It was a server that was overloaded. There was just too much traffic on it and then there were some app users who had logged out of the app and had to log back in”.

Asked how he is sure that the lost votes did not affect the final result, he said:

“The eventual drop, if I can call it that, affects all viewers. So there’s no one who stands out, pure and simple. Which means that if it’s the case that we’re affected, it’s affected everyone evenly”.

Anders Wistbacka pointed out that it is a big problem when the application does not work as it should.

The application should simply work and be secure and fit for the purpose for which the application is intended. There are always a few people who have problems, but this time there were a few more.”

Source: Aftonbladet.se

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun to get all the latest news about your favourite contest!

Sweden: The aim is a back-to-back victory, according to project manager Anders Wistbacka!

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Today morning, SVT unveiled Carina Berg as the host of this year’s shows of Melodifestivalen, on a press conference at the headquarters of SVT in Stockholm, Sweden!

Melodifestivalen’s project manager Anders Wistbacka made the announcement of the presenter, but before doing so he made quite an interesting statement:

“For the first time for Sweden, we want to win this contest twice in a row!”

This of course creates high expectations in the fanbase about the selection of the thirty songs that will compete in this year’s heats in the hopes of representing Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden.

He then commented on the selection of Carina as this year’s host of Melodifestivalen:

“For this year’s Melodifestivalen, we wanted a presenter with a capital P. We wanted a professional, experienced and loved by the viewers. Someone who can lead the show with warm, glamorous and humorous tone. We put the question to Carina Berg and she said yes! I am very happy and proud and know that we have found the right one.”

Do you believe that Sweden can manage to win back-to-back and surpass Ireland in number of victories? Let us know in the comments section below!

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Eurovision 2024: Malmö was the only option, Aftonbladet reports!

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The decision was made yesterday when the Swedish public broadcaster SVT and EBU announced that the 68th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö and Malmö Arena! However, according to Torbjörn Ek and Aftonbladet, none of the other applicant cities fulfilled all the prerequisites on the checklist of SVT and EBU, other than just Malmö. Malmö was the only option as it seems and Tobbe tried to breakdown the reasons why the rest of the cities were not considered as potential host cities!

Gothenburg chances

After Malmö 2013 and Stockholm 2016, many were hoping that Gothenburg would host Eurovision 2024. Earlier than the actual city announcement, we had reported that neither Gothenburg nor Örnsköldsvik were selected to host Eurovision 2024, a 50-year-old arena with several accessibility issues would not be able to host a production of 2024.

Örnsköldsvik chances

With Örnsköldsvik there were two main issues! Firstly, there are two flights a day to Örnsköldsvik. With 50 seats on each flight. And secondly, there are nowhere near as many hotel rooms as a Eurovision requires. Övik advocated train travel, but just going through Sweden takes over 10 hours (Fastest train journey Malmö – Övik takes 10:40h according to SJ). And then you must have reached the national border first as well. And the hotel rooms would be redeemed with cruise ships in port. One could say that this is smart, but also it is a little awkward, a little too much uncertainty for SVT to dare to gamble.

Stockholm chances

Stockholm would be a great option. A big city but easily accessible, many things within 1h walking distance, large arenas. But with Globen closed for renovation, trilling football clubs on Friends Arena and Tele2 and the city’s own proposal with a temporary arena (in practice a giant tent like at a music festival) in Frihamnen, one began to suspect inadvisability.

In a year when the world economy is shaking, it is not time for SVT to bet on alternatives with far too uncertain cards. The question marks surrounding an arena that doesn’t even exist, with all the known and unknown uncertainties it entails, simply became far too uncomfortable. Not to mention that Swedes and people living in Stockholm would not like to pay off such a temporary solution and see their tax bills getting bigger.

Hotel availability issues emerged

Malmö was the only safe card. But how are things in terms of lodging and availability? As Aftonbladet‘s Hanna Lindström and Torbjörn Ek report on the booking platforms, there is not a single free hotel room left in Malmö between May 11-12, that was barely half an hour after the announcement that the city would host Eurovision 2024. An easy solution would then be for someone to take the train to Copenhagen or ask a friend to put them up.

More rooms can be released

The large hotel chains Scandic, Clarion and Best Western in Malmö are fully booked during the competition, as it looks right now. But the hope for a night in a hotel room in Malmö is not lost yet. Johan Michelson , CEO of Best Western Hotels writes that the hotel will likely release more rooms closer to the event, when you have a better overview of demand.

At Scandic, however, the situation looks different. There, the hotel rooms are, just as it looks, sold out and they recommend going over to the neighboring country. Karin Sinclair, pricing manager for Scandic in Sweden comments on this:

“Our hotels in Malmö are currently fully booked during Eurovision and we always release the rooms we have immediately. I recommend keeping an eye on our website if availability changes and a tip is to keep an eye on our hotels in Copenhagen – it’s just a quick train ride across the bridge.”

9 out of 10 rooms go to Eurovision fans

Clarion hotels also have fully booked rooms on the day of the finals. Jens Lyckman , CEO of Clarion Malmö Live, elaborates to Sydsvenskan on the situation:

“In Malmö there are a total of just over 4,000 hotel rooms. 90 percent of that capacity is already assigned to the event”

Some might stay in Kastrup

Johan Hermansson , director of the leisure administration in Malmö, believes that Malmö is an easily accessible city and that it is possible to visit the city during the day of the Schlagerfest.

“When there are big events here in the Öresund region, it’s easy to get to them. Some come to Kastrup and stay in hotels, but many come with the Pågatågen and stay overnight for a fun event in Malmö. It is one of the strengths that we can attract visitors from our immediate area, which we really welcome and are also very happy for those who come from a little further away.”

Do you think that Malmö was a good choice to host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest? Do you intend to go to Malmö next year to watch any of the three available shows? Let us know in the comments section below!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun.com for all the latest news regarding Eurovision Song Contest 2024, which will be held in Sweden!

Source: Aftonbladet, Aftonbladet, Sydsvenskan

Breaking News: Eurovision 2024 will take place in Malmö!

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The decision has been made. Just a while ago the Swedish public broadcaster SVT and EBU announced that the 68th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö and Malmö Arena!

Announced Dates

Semi-Final 1: Tuesday May 7th

Semi-Final 2: Thursday May 9th

Grand Final: Saturday May 11th

What we know until now

Malmö had always expressed a strong interest in hosting the contest! They had hosted it back in 1992 and also in 2013 after the first victory of Loreen in 2012 with the iconic Swedish entry “Euphoria“ and now once more after the second victory of Loreen this year with the song “Tattoo“!

 

Malmö had the biggest chances to host next year’s contest after plans of Stockholm city got revealed that they intend to build a temporary arena in Frihamnen, Stockholm from scratch, when a part of their bid got leaked a few weeks ago!

Eurovision 2024 in Malmö Arena

The venue that will host the contest is called Malmö Arena, which is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Malmö, Sweden, and the venue for home games of SHL ice hockey club Malmö Redhawks. It is the largest arena in the SHL, and the second-largest indoor arena in Sweden, with a capacity of 12,600 for sports and 15,500 for concerts, only trailing the Globe Arena, located in Stockholm. Apart from hosting Redhawks hockey matches, the arena is often the venue for team handball, floorball, concerts, and other events. It has also hosted indoor athletics.

Malmö Arena hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 between 14 and 18 May 2013 and the 2014 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships from 26 December 2013 to 5 January 2014. It has also hosted several Melodifestivalen heats throughout the years.

The arena is located right at Hyllie railway station, from where there are rail and bus connections to Malmö Central Station, Copenhagen Airport, and Copenhagen Central Station.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun.com for all the latest news regarding Eurovision Song Contest 2024, which will be held in Sweden!