Live from Eurovision: The greatest show on Earth returns with a focus on enhancing the viewer experience
Eurovision Song Contest 2025 stage design (Credit SRG SSR)
It’s not Glastonbury or Coachella or even Lady Gaga on Copacabana beach. The biggest music event in the world is Eurovision and it’s back in Switzerland, the country where it all began in 1956.
Launched as a live broadcasting experiment with seven nations competing, the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) now attracts contestants from dozens of countries across the EBU membership (that includes Israel, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Australia), and a TV audience that reached 163 million people over the three live shows in 2024.
Among youth audiences (15-24-year-olds), the viewing share of the 2024 final was 58.6%, the highest share on record and more than four times the broadcast channels’ average with an additional 6.5 billion views of #Eurovision2024 on TikTok – up 1.7 billion compared to 2023.
“We are always looking to optimise the viewer experience, as well as improve workflows – both during the setup period and throughout rehearsals and live shows”
The 69th edition runs from 12-17 May at the St. Jakobshalle, Basel, produced by Swiss national broadcaster SRG SSR. Immediately after Nemo’s victory in Malmö last May, an SRG task force began preparing for the 2025 ESC in Switzerland. Reto Peritz from SRF and Moritz Stadler from RTS were announced as executive producers sharing overall responsibility.
One of their first hires was Tobias Åberg as head of production. “I represent SRG SSR in the project of ESC 2025,” he says. “The ESC is at the cutting edge of technology with demanding set-ups. For me, it’s always extremely interesting to work in different contexts and countries, as it offers the opportunity to learn from other cultures and people.”
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Åberg, a Swede, is an ESC pro: he was executive in charge of production in Malmö and was also a member of the core team for ESC 2013 and 2016. Over the past eight years, he has served as either head of production or a technical expert. As head of production ESC 2025 he is responsible for technical production, stage construction, infrastructure and IT.
He began by building the production team over the summer, while also travelling around Switzerland to help make the choice of host city and venue.
Credit: SRG SSR
“Some of the earliest topics included defining the production scope and the responsibilities of the production team,” he recalls. “I then began building my core team and engaging the key creatives within the production team – set designer, lighting designer, and senior multi-camera director.
“Once we’d made up our minds and selected the set design and set designer, we continued developing the overall production design, both creatively and technically, while also investigating its practical feasibility. The lighting design, camera plan, rigging concept, and LED specifications were developed. When the framework around the production design – including the technical setup for the broadcast – was in place, we began the tendering process to secure our technical suppliers.”
In parallel, they engaged the wider team of technical managers, operators, camera crew and logistics.
A total of nine shows will be held at the 8,000-seater St. Jakobshalle – with three aired live: the two semi-finals on 13 and 15 May and the grand final on 17 May.
Each year, the production tweaks and develops the concept of the show and its execution. “One key learning from previous ESCs is that larger LED lighting setups are becoming increasingly complex – both in terms of signal distribution and when combined with greater amounts of automation. The demands on power distribution are also growing. I always keep a close eye on these aspects,” Åberg explains.
“We are always looking to optimise the viewer experience, as well as improve workflows – both during the setup period and throughout rehearsals and live shows. The camera positions are adjusted to best capture the specific production design, although we often return to some proven ideas, such as cranes on either side of the stage. Rail cameras and aerial cameras vary depending on the design.”
The camera plan for ESC 2025 includes seven wireless, nine on stands (eight with 90x-122x zoom lenses) and 10 block cameras plus five PTZ cams. All are Sony.
A total of 300 audio streams are being managed from a system that includes 100 wireless microphones and 250 in-ear wireless receivers.
“We have Dante out of the RF receivers, Optocore in two redundant loops connecting all consoles in the venue, Madi for interconnecting with the broadcast world (OB vans) and AVB to address all amplifiers,” he says.
NEP once again is the main services supplier for galleries and vision this time working with Ukrainian special cameras team OperTec and links providers 2Sat (SNG) and Swisscom (IT).
Creative Technology is leading on the supply and install of LED and projection kit. Set stage and construction is handled by Unbranded Productions. Lighting rig and control is in the care of Neg Earth Lights, while rigging and automation is handled by Germany’s Malecon. The Automated Camera Script (ACS) is LiveEdit.
The EBU’s technology partner Riedel is in charge of intercom, internal signal distributing and commentary tech. On-screen graphics are by Sweden’s VXO Design and LED content is led by Luke Halls Studio.
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“VXO is the supplier and they work closely with our art director, our multicamera director, and our end of show producer to achieve the right look and feel,” says Åberg.
The short video ‘postcards’ introducing each act and screened while the stage is being prepared for the next entry, were filmed between January and April 2025 and directed by Luca Zurfluh of Zurich-based production company Dynamic Frame.
The activation sequence for the postcards was produced through a collaboration between Luke Halls Studio, VXO design, and art director Artur Deyneuve. “For this, we also plan to use AR to place the graphics in a visually appealing way within our set design,” says Åberg.
Artur Deyneuve Credit: SRG SSR Barbara Mueller
The world feed remains in 1080 50 SDR after an assessment by the EBU after 2023 in Liverpool found there was not sufficient demand for a 4K UHD HDR (or even a HD HDR) production among its public service broadcaster community.
To accommodate as many requests as possible for each act, rehearsals are essential and extensive. There’s a significant amount of pre-programming too “to ensure we are as prepared as possible when we begin the live stage performance,” he adds.
This includes pre-programming all lights, creating all LED content and pre-programming the ACS system. The team hold camera briefings with all the camera operators and rehearse with stand-ins before artists arrive on site.
“Lighting designer Tim Routledge receives a look and brief for each act, some of which include very detailed lighting requests. His lighting team works to facilitate these as best as possible; however, it is ultimately our responsibility (as host broadcast producers), in collaboration with EBU, to make the final decision about the overall look,” says Åberg.
The production is using a QLab system for this year’s floor marking with Disguise as the playout system for all LED and projector surfaces.
RTCG of Montenegro returns to the competition after last competing in 2022. And 36 of the 37 countries that took part at Malmö 2024 will be participating once again.
Eurovision Services will provide distribution of the produced world feed and is producer of the live voting element of the final.
Deyneuve has sprinkled the audio identity of the show with traditional Swiss elements: yodelling, a Basel drum corps, and alphorns. The stage design, by production designer Florian Wieder of Wieder Design, was also inspired by Switzerland’s mountains, highlighted by a central extension that extends into the standing audience area and surrounded by an LED arch.
The multicamera directors are led by Robin Hofwander with Myriam von Necker and Fredrik Bäcklund. Head of show is SRF’s Yves Schifferle who last year helped Nemo to victory as Switzerland’s head of delegation at the ESC. He is responsible for creating and realising the content for all three ESC shows (including moderating the shows, the opening and interval acts, the flag parade, postcards and voting procedure). Head of contest is Swedish TV producer Christer Björkman, who had the same role over the past decade.
Director of the Eurovision Song Contest is Martin Green. He joined in November from entertainment company TAIT where he was VO of live events. Green has been executive producer of major events including the ceremonies of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 and the BAFTA-winning ESC in Liverpool in 2023 on behalf of Ukraine.
The current favourite to win Eurovision 2025 is Sweden, represented by band KAJ, with their song Bara Bada Bastu, with France and Austria also in the early running.