Experience the Eurovision Song Contest online

Actually, the Netherlands would already organize the Eurovision Song Contest last year. However, Corona threw a spanner in the works and the entire event was cancelled. This year the time has finally come: for the first time since 1976, the festival will be organized in the Netherlands again. Like every year, it is just shown on television, but otherwise almost everything is different from other years. There is only room for 3,500 fans in Ahoy and watching the final together with a large group of friends is also not possible this year. Not all participating artists may be able to travel to the organizing city of Rotterdam (a video solution has been found for this) and the side program in the city is very limited. Eurovision fans who still want to get something from the festival, are mainly dependent on the internet.

This is what can be seen and done online in the run-up to/during the Eurovision Song Contest. Much will be done via YouTube.

• If you are very curious about the songs that are sung during the Eurovision Song Contest, you can already visit the Eurovision YouTube Channel. Numerous videos from participating artists can be viewed here. Once the festival has started, press conferences will also be held through this channel.
• The official fringe program can be found at Openuprotterdam.eu. Watch videos or participate in ongoing projects that bring the city together Eurovision fans. Also with Rotterdam Festivals is a handy overview of the peripheral program.
• The fan zone that would appear on the Binnenrotte in Rotterdam has changed into a online fan zone. During a program presented by Paul de Leeuw, guests from home and abroad come along and there are performances by Afrojack and two-time Eurovision winner Johnny Logan.
• As in other years, the participating countries can be voted by the public. Download the Eurovision Song Contest app in the Play Store (Android) or App Store (iPad/iPhone). Please note that some texts in the app are in English.
  The app also contains the video clips of the songs sung and the order in which the countries perform in the semifinals can be seen.
• On the YouTube channel of AVROTROS There will be seven episodes of ‘All Access’ (translated: full access). This series gives a look backstage during the festival. Viewers are also kept informed of the latest news about the festival on a daily basis.
• In the run-up to the festival, the NPO will broadcast a number of episodes of Road to Rotterdam from. This mainly concerns the preparations for the event. For example, you can see how the four presenters, Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley, Jan Smit and Nikkie de Jager (better known as NikkieTutorials), are preparing.
• As in previous years, Twitter is an ideal medium to laugh together about the extravagant outfit of Tix from Norway or the voice of Elena Tsagrinou from Cyprus. Add the hashtags #Eurovision, #OpenUp, #ESC and #ESC2020 to your own tweets or see what other viewers think of the performances. Follow the official Twitter account @Eurovision or @bbceurovision with the hilarious English commentary by Graham Norton.