This morning, SVT have announced changes to the Melodifestivalen format for the 2024 edition. From next year, 30 entries will now compete in the national final instead of 28. Also, the semi-final will be replaced by a fifth heat, with two additional qualifiers decided at the end of the five heats.
Melodifestivalen producers are hoping that the changes to the format will provide more viewer engagement and allow for a more exciting national final. This is the third year in a row where changes have been made to the format of the competition, with the semi-final replacing the Andra Chansen round in 2022 and the semi-final heats being scrapped in 2023.
Increased songs, increased heats
Among the changes to the Melodifestivalen format is an increase in the number of competing entries. 30 entries will now compete in the competition, up from 28. This is the highest number of entries since 2014, when 32 songs competed for the ticket to Copenhagen.
However, only six entries will compete in each heat with an additional heat being introduced, taking the number of heats from four to five. Two entries will still qualify from each heat, meaning ten entries will qualify direct to the final across the five heats.
Discussing the new changes, Melodifestivalen’s project manager Anders Wistbacka commented on how the new format will reinvent the competition, hoping to increase viewer interest and engagement as Sweden look to select the host entry for Eurovision 2024.
We always want to make Melodifestivalen even better and more exciting for our audience. With this completely new approach, we believe we can maintain viewers’ engagement throughout the season. It’s no secret we’ve lost audiences in the semi-finals. Now we hope to keep the excitement up through all the programmes.
Anders Wistbacka, project manager for Melodifestivalen
The end of the semi-final days
In another change to the format, there will also be no semi-final round in the 2024 competition. The semi-final – or previously, Andra Chansen – has been an important part of Melodifestivalen since 2002. In 2013, the eventual entry for the contest, Robin Stjenberg’s “You”, actually qualified to the final via the Andra Chansen round.
After initial changes were made to the semi-final in 2022, the format is now set to be scrapped altogether. Instead, a new programme will be held directly after the fifth heat in which viewers select two more entries for the final from the remaining third- and fourth-placed entries from the five heats. The qualifiers will be decided by a combination of the votes cast in the heat and the additional programme.
12 entries will then compete in the final, which remains unchanged for 2024. Song submissions for Melodifestivalen 2024 opens on 25th August at 09:00 CEST and will close on 15th September at 11:59 CEST. With a new format, the search for Sweden’s next entry for the contest, which will be held in Sweden next year, begins.
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