The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest to be streamed live on YouTube

09 May 2017 at 15:00 CEST
The hosts of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest; Timur Miroshnychenko, Oleksandr Skichko and Volodymyr Ostapchuk. Andres Putting
The live stream of the Eurovision Song Contest is returning to YouTube. Viewers from around the world will be able to watch all three live broadcasts of the 2017 competition. Last year the live stream of the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest was watched by nearly two million people.

As rehearsals for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest take place in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, viewers can watch exclusive backstage content from the competition on the official Eurovision Song Contest channel on YouTube as well as the winners’ press conferences which take place after each Semi-Final and following the Grand Final.    

The live streams on YouTube give viewers around the world the chance to follow the action as it takes place in Ukraine.  Due to rights technicalities, unfortunately the EBU is unable to live stream in the United States, Canada, Taiwan, South Korea and Brazil. As a consequence it is necessary to geoblock the live streams of the shows in these territories. We are continually trying to resolve these rights issues in order to enable fans from around the world — and we know there are many — to watch the live stream. On Sunday evening the Red Carpet and Opening Ceremony was streamed live. Check out the video below.

The Eurovision Song Contest was streamed live on YouTube for the first time in 2015 and since then has gone from strength to strength. The 2016 Eurovision Song Contest was the third largest music live stream on the YouTube platform, by peak audience watching during the event.    

42 countries are participating in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest. The Semi-Finals will take place on Tuesday 9th May and Thursday 11th May and will see ten countries qualify for the Grand Final on Saturday 13th May.    

The Eurovision Song Contest channel on YouTube has nearly 1.4 million subscribers and has notched up over two billion views since it was launched in 2006.