The price of Eurovision: how much does the European song contest cost for Ukraine
6 February 2024 16:26
This year’s organisation of the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest cost the Ukrainian state budget UAH 11 million. At the current exchange rate and prices, this money could buy more than 600 fpv drones for the frontline. 
has calculated how much participation in the European song contest has cost Ukraine in recent years.
It should be noted that this year’s amount of UAH 11 million is only for the national qualifying competition, meaning that it does not include the costs of artists travelling to the competition and presenting the country abroad. Usually, these costs are covered only partially by the state and partially by sponsors, etc. We have yet to learn about this year’s figures.
The price of the issue
It is known that once upon a time, Eurovision was organised by the STB TV channel, which covered part of the costs. In conversations around the financial component of the actual trip to the contest, there are different figures – on average, several hundred thousand dollars, sometimes people talk about $1 million. Organising the national selection starts at UAH 10 million.
For example, in 2023, it was reported that the performance of TVORCHI at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 (and not in the national selection) cost Ukraine UAH 3 million. However, together with the organisation of the broadcast by the public broadcaster, content creation services, etc., everything cost the state budget UAH 18.1 million. The national selection cost UAH 10 million. That is, the total figure was over UAH 28 million.
In 2022 , the Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine was organised exclusively by a public broadcaster, without the STB TV channel. According to ProZorro, UA:PBC’s total expenses for the entire Eurovision Song Contest amounted to UAH 20.8 million. It is known that this amount included the cost of staging the Kalush Orchestra‘s performance, but it is unclear whether the trip itself, hotel rooms, etc. were funded.
In 2016, the organiser of the national selection, the STB TV channel, reported that it spent UAH 12.5 million on the competition, which Jamala won. The singer’s trip to Stockholm cost more than UAH 3 million, of which UAH 1.8 million was allocated by STB. According to the singer, after winning the Eurovision Song Contest, her fees increased fivefold.
Organisation of the contest
The costs of the countries hosting the contest are quite uneven. For example, Azerbaijan’s Eurovision officially cost $64 million, but unofficially, it is said to be much more. The Swedes, on the other hand, spent only $26 million on Eurovision 2013 in Malmo. At the same time, tourists brought $24 million to Malmo, and many of them were ready to return to Sweden in the future. In Azerbaijan, tourists spent only USD 11 million.
Ukraine has won the Eurovision Song Contest three times, gained the right to host the contest three times, but has only held it twice.
After Ruslana won with her “Wild Dances” in 2004, the capital’s Palace of Sports became Europe’s main song TV stage the following year. The total cost of organising the contest was UAH 120 million or USD 23 million. A little more than half of this money, UAH 68 million, was allocated from the state budget (of which about UAH 10 million was even saved), several million euros were allocated by the European Broadcasting Union, and the rest was raised from sponsors.
Unfortunately, there is no general data on business income from tourists at Eurovision 2005. It has not even been reported that the inflow of tourists increased significantly in 2005. What is known for certain is that the government received UAH 5.2 million from ticket sales. In general, it can be said that Ukraine’s gains from hosting the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest were primarily image-related.
The 2017 Eurovision Song Contest, held again in Kyiv, cost more than $30 million, or about UAH 655 million (of which UAH 200 million was allocated from the Kyiv budget). The cost could have been lower if Kyiv had had normal roads beforehand. After all, the cost estimate included UAH 250 million for the preparation of the capital’s road infrastructure.
At that time, 60,000 tourists came to Kyiv, 20,000 of whom were from abroad. Foreigners spent 100-150 euros a day and spent about 12 million euros or 360 million UAH in Kyiv over 4 days. Ukrainian tourists spent UAH 800 a day and left UAH 128 million in Kyiv over 4 days. Thus, Eurovision tourists spent just under UAH 500 million and in monetary terms, Eurovision 2017 in Ukraine did not pay off.
After Kalush Orchestra won in 2022, of course, it was out of the question for Ukraine to host the next contest. So this right was given to the UK, which spent a total of €11.3 million on the organisation. The host city of Liverpool took full advantage of the moment and earned £55 million from tourists.
To be or not to be at Eurovision?
Discussions about the necessity of Eurovision during the war continue, and even we have calculated how many drones could be bought for this year’s budget. In addition, year after year, there are news about countries like Bulgaria or Romania refusing to participate in the contest due to lack of funds. Does Ukraine really need to spend money on a song contest in the current situation? Many would say no.
However, there is also a point of view that says that Eurovision is a market of 180 million viewers. And these viewers mostly vote in elections. And how successfully Ukraine “sells” itself at this contest depends, among other things, on the rhetoric of those politicians whom these viewers support. In other words, the position is that spending on the Eurovision Song Contest is purely Ukraine’s image costs and a priceless investment from this point of view.
In any case, Ukraine’s history at Eurovision continues. As a result of the national selection, Ukraine will be represented at this year’s contest by alyona alyona and Jerry Heil with their song Teresa & Maria.
