Asia Is Getting Its Own Eurovision Song Contest

Level: Intermediate

Vocabulary

Inaugural – happening for the first time; marking the beginning of a new event or institution.

Example – Bangkok will host the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia this November.

Multinational – involving or including several different countries.

Example – Eurovision has always been a multinational competition, and it is now expanding beyond Europe for the first time.

Broadcaster – a company or organization that produces and sends out television or radio programs.

Example – The European Broadcasting Union organizes Eurovision and its new Asian edition.

Identity – the qualities, beliefs, or characteristics that make a person, group, or place who or what they are.

Example – Organizers say the new contest should reflect the identity of the countries taking part, not just copy the European format.

Confirmed – officially agreed or made certain.

Example – Ten countries have confirmed their participation so far, with more expected to join.

Asia Is Getting Its Own Eurovision Song Contest

For seventy years, Eurovision has been one of Europe’s biggest cultural exports: a yearly song competition that mixes serious musical talent with over-the-top staging, national pride, and famously unpredictable voting. Since it began in 1956, the contest has launched the careers of major international stars, including ABBA and Celine Dion, and today it is watched by hundreds of millions of viewers across Europe and beyond every year. This November, for the first time in its history, the contest is expanding beyond Europe entirely. Bangkok, Thailand, will host the first-ever Eurovision Song Contest Asia, with the Grand Final scheduled for November 14, 2026.

Ten countries have confirmed their participation so far: South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan, with organizers expecting more nations to join before the final lineup is set. Just as in the original European contest, each participating country will hold its own national final to choose the song and performer who will represent it on the Bangkok stage.

The event is organized by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the same organization behind the original Eurovision Song Contest, marking the competition’s first-ever multinational expansion beyond Europe on its 70th anniversary. Martin Green, Eurovision’s director at the EBU, described the goal as “evolving Eurovision together with Asia, building something that reflects the voices, identities, and ambitions of the region” rather than simply exporting the European format unchanged. The region represented by the ten confirmed countries is home to more than 600 million people, giving the new contest an enormous potential audience from its very first year.

Choosing Bangkok as the host city is also a significant moment for Thailand. Major international events like this typically bring a substantial boost to a host city’s tourism, media visibility, and creative industries, and organizers expect Eurovision Asia to do the same, showcasing Thai music, design, and production talent on a stage watched by millions across the region and, likely, well beyond it. It also places Thailand alongside a short list of cities, including Stockholm, Vienna, and Tel Aviv, that have hosted a Eurovision-branded event, a list Bangkok now joins as the very first host outside Europe. A dedicated fan platform, run by an exclusive social partner called ZOOP, is also being introduced alongside the contest, aiming to give audiences a more interactive way to engage with the competition than simply watching the broadcast.

Whether Eurovision Asia will develop the same mix of sincere musical ambition and gleeful theatrical excess that has made the European contest famous, think elaborate costumes, pyrotechnics, and songs that range from genuinely moving to deliberately ridiculous, remains to be seen. But the format has a track record of adapting successfully to different contexts. Regional and national spinoffs, including junior competitions and various online formats, have found audiences before, and the addition of ten culturally distinct nations to the Eurovision family, each with their own musical traditions and audience expectations, could push the format somewhere genuinely new rather than simply repeating a European formula on a different continent.

For fans across Asia, the contest represents an entirely new opportunity: a chance to see performers from neighboring countries compete on a shared stage, in front of a shared audience, in a format that has spent seven decades turning a song competition into a genuine cultural phenomenon. Unlike a single country’s national music awards, the Eurovision format is built specifically around cross-border comparison, with viewers in each participating country able to vote for acts from any other country, which is part of what has historically made the results so difficult to predict and so widely discussed once the votes come in.

Whether Eurovision Asia becomes as beloved and unpredictable as its European counterpart will likely depend on the same things that have always defined Eurovision: strong songs, memorable performances, and an audience willing to vote with real passion, whether that means genuine appreciation, national loyalty, or simply love of a good spectacle. With ten diverse nations already confirmed and a full seven weeks of national selection shows expected before the Bangkok final, the coming months should offer an early sense of how the region embraces its newest cultural export, and whether it grows into something Asia looks forward to every year the way Europe has for seven decades.

Discussion

Had you heard of Eurovision before? What did you know about it?

Would you want your country to have its own version of a contest like this?

Why do you think music competitions like this become so popular across many countries?

What kind of song or performer do you think would represent your country well?

Do you think hosting a big international event like this is worth the cost and effort for a city? Why or why not?

What other cultural events do you think could work well as a multi-country competition?

Sources

European Broadcasting Union: Bangkok to Host First-Ever Eurovision Song Contest Asia in 2026