Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024

Austria is set to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. The Austrian broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF) will internally select the country's representative.

Eurovision Song Contest 2024
Country	Austria
National selection
Selection process	Internal selection
Selection date(s)	Artist: December 2023 Song: TBA
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2023 • 2024

Background

Main article: Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2024 contest, Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest fifty-five times since its first entry in 1957.^[1] The nation has won the contest on two occasions: in 1966 with the song "Merci, Chérie" performed by Udo Jürgens and in 2014 with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" performed by Conchita Wurst.^[1] Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Austria has featured in only eight finals. Austria's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on eight occasions, most recently in 2012.^[1] Austria has also received nul points on four occasions; in 1962, 1988, 1991 and 2015.

The Austrian national broadcaster, Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), broadcasts the event within Austria and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. In 2014 and since 2017, ORF has held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Austria at the contest. On 14 June 2023, ORF's program director Stefanie Groiss-Horowitz confirmed the broadcaster's intentions to participate at the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest and to continue to internally select their representative.^[2]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

In July 2023, ORF scouts Peter Schreiber and Eberhard Forcher [de] (who has worked on the selection of Austrian entries since 2016) started making open calls for interested artists to contact them by 30 September 2023.^[3][4]

An expert committee, headed by Forcher, initially shortlisted around fifteen artists, who would be invited to ORF's headquarters in Vienna in order to shoot videoclips for their songs as part of the selection process; the selected performer is set to be announced no later than December 2023.^[5][6] In early September 2023, ORF's head of entertainment Martin Gastinger commented on the possibility of holding a national final or a public online vote among the shortlisted finalists rather than a fully internal selection;^[4][7] however, this was later reconsidered for "legal reasons".^[6]

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 2024 will take place at the Malmö Arena in Malmö, Sweden, and consist of two semi-finals held on the respective dates of 7 and 9 May and the final on 11 May 2024. All nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final will progress to the final. On 30 January 2024, an allocation draw will be held to determine which of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show, each country will perform in; the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) splits up the competing countries into different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.^[8]

In a joint meeting held in Munich in September 2023, ORF and German-language broadcasters ARD for Germany and SRF for Switzerland renewed their plans to cooperate on the broadcast of Eurovision-themed programmes ESC – Der Countdown and ESC – Die Aftershow in 2024, as they did for the 2023 contest.^[9][10]

References

1. "Austria". Eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Retrieved 9 August 2023.
2. Ude, Christian (14 June 2023). "ORF plant auch 2024 keinen ESC-Vorentscheid" [ORF is not planning an ESC preselection in 2024 either]. Kleine Zeitung (in Austrian German). Retrieved 14 June 2023.
3. Granger, Anthony (25 July 2023). "Austria: Search for Eurovision 2024 Commences With Conchita Among Interested Acts?". Eurovoix. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
4. Koronakis, Spyros (5 September 2023). "Austria: Is the country organizing a National Final for Eurovision 2024?". Eurovisionfun. Retrieved 5 September 2023.
5. Koronakis, Spyros (2 September 2023). "Austria: Conchita Wurst will not submit a song for Eurovision 2024!". Eurovisionfun. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
6. Stephenson, James (3 October 2023). "Austria: ORF Will Reveal 2024 Artist No Later than December". Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
7. King, Dave (2 September 2023). "New ORF Boss Wants Austrian Audience To Help Choose 2024 Entry". ESCBubble. Retrieved 11 September 2023.
8. Van Dijk, Sem Anne (13 December 2023). "Eurovision 2024: Semi-Final Allocation Draw on January 30". Eurovoix. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
9. Van Waarden, Franciska (12 September 2023). "Eurovision 2024: ARD, ORF and SRF Are Collaborating On Programming". Eurovoix. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
10. "ARD, ORF und SRF erneut mit gemeinsamen Shows beim ESC" [ARD, ORF and SRF again with joint shows at the ESC]. Eurovision.de (in German). ARD. 20 September 2023. Retrieved 29 September 2023.