As Eurovision expands into Asia, where does New Zealand fit?
Saturday, 30 May 2026
Sequins, spectacle and strategic voting aside, Eurovision has become one of the world’s biggest cultural stages. As the contest expands into Asia, Aotearoa is once again asking whether it should be in the audience ‒ or on the scoreboard. By André Chumko.
Australia’s been part of it since 2015, so could Aotearoa participate in the Eurovision Song Contest as well?
One expert says it’s unlikely ‒ but a franchised version of the event coming to Asia later this year has reignited a years-long conversation about whether New Zealand should seriously consider throwing its hat in the ring.
The international competition, organised annually since 1956 by the European Broadcasting Union, ranks among the world’s most watched non-sporting events each year, with hundreds of millions of viewers globally.
Participating broadcasters submit an original song representing their country to be performed live, with votes then cast by professional music juries and the viewing public to determine a winner.
Traditionally held in the country that won the preceding year’s event, the campy, diverse contest often provides artists with career boosts and, in some cases, long-lasting international success. It also helps to promote winning countries as tourism destinations.
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Notable past entrants include ABBA (Sweden), Olivia Newton-John (United Kingdom), Céline Dion (Switzerland) and Cliff Richard (United Kingdom); while its opening, interval and guest performers over the years have included the likes of Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Rita Ora and Cirque du Soleil.
Australia is the only country outside the European broadcasting area to have competed, however other non-European countries including Israel, Morocco and Russia have also participated at various moments in time (Morocco took part once in 1980; Russia was suspended in 2022 following its invasion of Ukraine).
As part of the broadcaster’s commitment to provide programming to Australia’s non-English language migrant communities, SBS first screened the contest to Australian audiences in 1983, said Eurovision historian Dr Dean Vuletic, who authored the book Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest.
While SBS’ target audience has now expanded beyond just southern European migrant communities, it has kept broadcasting the show.
In 2015, Australia’s participation was set to be a one-off event to celebrate the competition’s 60th anniversary, with the country receiving special permission from the European Broadcasting Union to take part.
However, due to strong local viewership, SBS has arranged an official entry ever since. Artists who have represented Australia include Guy Sebastian (2015, fifth place), Delta Goodrem (2026, fourth place), and Dami Im (2016, second place).
But even before 1983, some Australians had participated in Eurovision as members of British pop groups.
“This is why Australia is different to say, Canada or New Zealand,” said Vuletic. “What’s missing is this history of engaging with Eurovision.”
Even though Vuletic didn’t believe it was impossible for Aotearoa to take part, he said the European Broadcasting Union had to be careful not to provoke backlash by inviting too many special guest countries, as at its core Eurovision was a European event.
Israel is allowed to enter because eligibility is based on full and active membership to the union. Crucially, Aotearoa’s state broadcasters - Television New Zealand and Radio New Zealand - are only associate members of the union.
An abridged history of Eurovision
Eurovision was originally developed as a technical project to test the nascent technology of television to live broadcast the same programme across European countries.
But over time the contest became a prominent cultural marker of Europeanist symbolism, defined by the unification and integration of Europe post-WWII.
Scholars have argued the contest helps celebrate Europe’s diversity, while also serving as a televised space for negotiating broader European identities and values. It’s also used as a form of cultural diplomacy, in which participating countries can actively challenge or reinforce stereotypes.
Vuletic’s book explores how, after the end of the Cold War, the contest became a way for countries to express their aspirations to be a part of the Western cultural sphere, and for nations to connect themselves to Europe (think Israel, which is technically part of the Middle East, or Azerbaijan, a dictatorship that borders Iran, which has participated since 2008 as a union member).
Thanks to the show being broadcast online since 2001, Eurovision has also become more popular with audiences around the world. It’s currently screened in the United States on NBC, and in 2020 a Netflix film starring Rachel McAdams and Will Ferrell based on the contest, The Story of Fire Saga, was released.
Since 2023 Eurovision has had a rest-of-the-world vote, in which any viewer with a credit card and internet connection from a non-participating country can cast votes. These are aggregated and presented as a set of points equivalent to one participating country.
The United States attempted a Eurovision spin-off in 2022 called the American Song Contest in which all 50 states, five territories and Washington DC put in entries, however it was considered a flop and never held again.
But in November this year the Eurovision Song Contest Asia will be held for the first time, with broadcasters in the Asia-Pacific region putting forward entries representing their countries. So far 10 nations are confirmed to take part including Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, South Korea and host country Thailand.
Organised by the European Broadcasting Union, the event has been in the works since 2008, but never materialised until now.
Vuletic is watching the expansion and franchising closely ‒ particularly given how much the original competition means to Europeans, and its inherent European character.
With franchises, he said there might be a way for countries to achieve their Eurovision aspirations ‒ though the Asia contest’s exact format remains to be seen.
Given Australia will not take part in Eurovision Asia, the question for New Zealand is then where do we best belong, and who do we identify more with ‒ Asia or Europe?
Is there appetite?
Across previous years there have been various campaigns for New Zealand to be part of Eurovision. In 2023 comedy duo Two Hearts, comprised of Laura Daniel and Joseph Moore, released an unofficial entry song called Eurovision (Open Up).
“Help right one of the greatest wrongs in modern music ‒ let NZ into Eurovision,” says a description on the YouTube music video, which had more than 160,000 views at the time of writing.
An accompanying petition, signed by more than 400 people, argues: “New Zealand is a country with a rich musical heritage that could bring a lot to the Eurovision party. Just ask Lorde, Crowded House, or Dane Rumble. … The Eurovision Song Contest is an internationally televised music competition with over 161 million viewers. A contest built on inclusivity, it sets out to find Europe’s finest musical nations. So why the hell are Australia in it? Can New Zealand come and play too?”
The former EU Ambassador to New Zealand, Nina Obermaier, told RNZ in 2023 she would support Aotearoa being part of the contest, and in 2018 then-European Union Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström said New Zealand would be “very welcome” to follow in Australia’s footsteps.
A TVNZ spokesperson this week told The Post the network had discussed acquiring the broadcast rights of Eurovision over recent years. The contest has not aired on New Zealand television since 2016.
“We’ve assessed the opportunity but not moved forward,” the TVNZ spokesperson said.
While TVNZ said it had not explored or pursued a local entry, “we would need to weigh up the financial impact and logistical requirements against audience interest”.
From a cultural diplomacy perspective, participation in Eurovision or Eurovision Asia could potentially be seen as an opportunity for Aotearoa to showcase its creative identity internationally, said Ministry for Culture and Heritage operational policy manager Kartini Havell.
“Participation could align with the Cultural Diplomacy International Programme, which supports initiatives that raise global visibility for New Zealand’s creative sectors, connect artists to international audiences, and expand economic opportunities,” Havell said.
“It also looks for opportunities to showcase our unique cultures, including Māori and Pasifika arts, and leveraging international events to advance wider cultural and diplomatic interests.”
The ministry administers the programme on behalf of the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, with support from a cross-government working group. Individuals or organisations can apply for funding, with about $3 million available for projects through June 2029.
The first funding round closed in March, with another expected to open later this year.
Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Paul Goldsmith this week told The Post he would definitely support New Zealand being part of Eurovision.
“It would be an enormous opportunity for our artists to promote New Zealand as a creative powerhouse with global reach. I’d hope New Zealand could showcase its creative industries in all their forms,” he said.
If we did ever enter, there is also the not-so-small question of who would be put forward to represent our nation: Lorde? Stan Walker? Bic Runga? Benee?
“In the end, it’s a pop song contest,” Vuletic said. “Maybe you would like to emphasise New Zealand’s indigenous character, because that’s something that New Zealand has been very successful incorporating into the national culture.
“ … The contest has seen everything ‒ so it would really depend. But just to use Australia as an example, Europeans don’t necessarily know much about Australia. They’re not going to know that much about New Zealand, either. So the messages that New Zealand would try to send would have to resonate with the [viewing] public.”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.