He’s been at the helm of the Eurovision Song Contest since 2020, and soon, another will take his place. With the announcement of Martin Österdahl stepping down as the Executive Supervisor of the contest, we take a quick look at what has happened in the years, that he has held this title.
Martin Österdahl – Executive Supervisor from 2020 to 2025
From Rotterdam to Basel
In his time at the role, the Eurovision Song Contest has taken place in Rotterdam, Turin, Liverpool, Malmö and Basel. With the exception of Malmö, all the other cities can now call themselves, former host cities as well, by having hosted the event and none of them even being a capital of their respective countries. That’s not all, but he also held this title when it came to the Junior contest, which were held in Warsaw, Paris, Yerevan, Nice and Madrid.
A thing all the events have managed to do during his tenure, is to continue grabbing the ever growing attention of both contests, with new ideas and new ways to entertain viewers from across the planet.
Challenging 5 years
To claim it has been without any flaws, would be far from the truth, and the past 5 years have also proved the difficulties of upholding such a position. Starting back in 2020, with the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the first ever cancelation of the annual song contest, there were lots of prayers that the 2021 contest would be able to be held. Despite the difficulties and the needed adaptations for the contest to be held, 2021 welcomed our favorite annual show back.
As the world was healing from the Pandemic years, other problems would arise, which would also directly affect the contest. In 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine and pressure started to rise, for the EBU to take action against the Russian members. The results of the 2022 contest, also meant that for the first time in more than 40 years, the winning nation could not host the next contest, and instead someone else had to take charge. This is where we witnessed a stunning co-operation between the Ukrainian and British broadcasters, to bring the contest to life, live from Liverpool, in 2023.
Sadly, this was not the only world conflict, that would affect the competition. Now with the conflicts in the Middle East on the rise again, this would unfortunately also have an affect on the competition in both 2024 and 2025.
Modernizing the contest
The contest also saw several new ideas and rules being put into place. For those who are unaware, all vocals had to be performed live until 2019, a global vote was only first introduced in 2023 and the jury voting was removed from the semi-finals, starting in 2024, just to name a few things. That is however, far from everything that has been done in his short time at this position, so in case you’ve forgotten, here are some things that has happened during Martin Österdahl‘s time, as the executive supervisor:
- Introduction of recorded backing vocals – Only the lead vocal needs to be sung live now.
- Live-on-tape recordings – In order to have a back-up recording, for participants that were unable to be present.
- Stricter acceptance towards pre-released songs – Anything released prior to September 1st, is non-acceptable.
- Removal of juries in the semi-final – Only the televote would decide the qualifiers of the semi-finals.
- Rest of the world voting – Viewers from across the globe, from non-participating countries, could now vote.
- Permanent slogan – “United by Music” became the official and forever slogan of the contest.
- Early start of voting – For the rest of the world, voting was possible 24 hours before the show(all shows), while voting from participating countries was now when the show started(only for the final).
- Pre-qualified countries in the semi-finals – This saw the BIG 5 and host nations perform fully in the semi-finals, without competing.
- Producer’s Choice – The producers were given more freedom to decide the running order for the final.
- New roles – A new role called “ESC Director” was now created, in order to uphold the values for the song contest.
- Flag policy – Participants were only allowed to carry the flag of the country they represented.
- Qualifier announcement – The new way of announcing which country has qualified to the final.
- …and much more.
It’s also important to point out, that these decisions are not only decided purely by Martin Österdahl, but are rather suggestions and ideas that are brought to the attention of the Reference Group, who together decide what to incorporate into show.
Another thing that is also important to point out, is that all these things, have all had mixed reactions. Some have been more welcomed than others, while other ideas have even been fully scrapped.
A respected farewell
Despite everything, whether it’s been good or bad, Martin Österdahl has left his mark, both during the 5 years and even before that as well. When the contest came to Sweden in both 2013 and 2016, Martin Österdahl was announced as the Executive Producer of the contest both times, and also had a role in the reference group as well for seven years. It will now be up to the next person, to elevate the contest into new and greater heights.
Martin Österdahl had the following words to share, after the announcement:
- “From day one, I was inspired by the Contest’s unique potential and power to unite people through music—never more so than in 2021, when we brought Eurovision back live to millions around the world amid a global pandemic, demonstrating the resilience and spirit at the heart of our community. I am immensely proud of the changes we made to modernize and strengthen the Eurovision Song Contest. These include establishing the permanent “United By Music” slogan for the event, attracting long term sponsors and brand extension partnerships, and growing engagement and reach on our digital platforms that have brought millions of new fans to the Contest.
“The ESC is now an event where hundreds of thousands sign up to buy tickets, a show watched by hundreds of millions, connecting with youth audiences worldwide, and stands as a unique platform for overnight global success for artists and songwriters.
“As my overall involvement with the ESC is now approaching a period of twenty years in total, it has been the honour of my professional life to steer the world’s largest music event, developing the Contest as a global super brand that brings joy to more people than ever before.
“I am deeply grateful to the entire ESC community and particularly to the ESC Core Team, participating broadcasters, artists, and fans for their passion and support
.”
While the search for the next Executive Supervisor takes place, ESC Director, Martin Green, will take the role on a interim basis. He himself also had the following words to share:
- “On behalf of everyone at the EBU, all our participating broadcasters, partners and the entire Eurovision Song Contest community, I extend my sincere thanks to Martin Österdahl for his vision, expertise and tireless commitment to the event. His steady leadership through some of the Contest’s most challenging and innovative years has set new standards of excellence. As we approach our 70th anniversary next year, Martin is leaving his role having played an integral part in growing the Eurovision Song Contest brand and ensuring its bright future. We thank him for his amazing work and lasting impact on the Song Contest, and wish him every success.”
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Source(s): EBU.ch
