The 69th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest 2025 takes place in Basel, Switzerland, with two semi-finals on 13 and 15 May, and a final on 17 May. Here’s the story of the man who makes the Eurovision Song Contest.
Martin Österdahl is the man who makes one of the world’s most complicated live TV productions. The international song competition is organized annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members. Each participating broadcaster submits an original song representing its country to be performed and broadcast live to all of them via the Eurovision and Euroradio networks and then casts votes for the other countries’ songs to determine a winner.
Österdahl is the European Broadcasting Union’s Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest and Junior Eurovision Song Contest. This year, the competition takes place in Basel, Switzerland, the true home of the Eurovision Song Contest. The Geneva-headquartered EBU coordinates it, and Switzerland hosted (and won) the first edition in 1956. But the man in charge of this Swiss enterprise is a dapper Swede.
Österdahl grew up between Stockholm and London. He attended Adolf Fredrik’s Music School, joining the school’s opera boy choir. His father, Marcus Österdahl ran the recording studio Marcus Music, and his mother worked in a music publishing company. Österdahl studied a master’s degree in economics, Russian, and Eastern European Studies at Uppsala University.
On finals night, Martin Österdahl announces when the votes have been counted in the world’s most watched non-sporting TV event. Östedahl has been in the role since 2020. The 2024 contest’s live shows reached an audience of 163 million, making it one of the most successful so far.
The contest was inspired by and based on the Italian San Remo Music Festival, held in the Italian Riviera since 1951. Eurovision has been held annually since 1956 (except for 2020 due to the COVID-19 restrictions), making it the longest-running international music competition on television and one of the world’s longest-running television programs.
In January 2020, the EBU announced that Österdahl would succeed Jon Ola Sand as the Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest after the final of the 2020 contest.
Martin’s father competed in Eurovision in 1967 as a songwriter on the Swedish entry. He was a hitmaker in the 1960s and 1970s, and then he started managing his recording studios in Sweden and the UK. The first one was in the basement of the family’s house. Abba recorded there, and later some of the biggest stars of the time, from Marvin Gaye to Iron Maiden, Space Girls, and Take That. That might have been helpful in his present assignment.
Traditionally, the competition is held in the country that won the preceding year’s event. The contest provides an opportunity to promote the host country and city as a tourist destination. Thousands of spectators attend each year, along with journalists who cover all aspects of the contest, including rehearsals in the venue, press conferences with the competing acts, and other related events and performances in the host city.
As Executive Supervisor, Österdahl has the last call about the production of the Eurovision Song Contest, with the ability to overrule the producers and instruct. He is also responsible for organizing the voting system for the contest. He debuted as Executive Supervisor at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Warsaw, and later at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 in Rotterdam.
Meldodifestivalen, the name of the contest in Sweden, is a massive event. It occurs over six consecutive Saturday nights, with Eurovision-style productions in arenas nationwide. The whole country pretty much comes to a standstill. The final of that tour is in Stockholm, with 35,000 in attendance.
As of 2024, there have been 68 contests, making Eurovision the longest-running annual international televised music competition, as determined by Guinness World Records. The contest has been listed as one of the longest-running television programs in the world and among the world’s most-watched non-sporting events. Broadcasters from 52 countries have participated in at least one edition, with a record 43 countries participating in a single contest, first in 2008 and subsequently in 2011 and 2018.
“Right at the beginning, when the clock starts and then it’s Eurovision time, is my favorite moment in the show,” says Martin Österdahl. “It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. I find the energy in the venue to be like nothing else.”
The Man Who Makes the Eurovision Song Contest, reported by Tor Kjolberg
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