How to watch the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest live online

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest will officially begin in Malmö, Sweden on May 7. The final, however, won’t air until 21:00 CEST (12:00 PST/ 15:00 EST) on May 11. Eurovision is extremely popular around the world for obvious reasons, and accordingly, will be broadcast live in over three dozen countries. Take a look below to find out how to stream the Eurovision 2024 final wherever you are.

This post will only recommend official Eurovision broadcasters. Major events like this one are often available on unlicensed streaming sites, but we advise against using these. They often have laggy, low-resolution video, and are constantly at risk of being taken down by the copyright holder. Nobody wants to watch a three-hour-long broadcast just to have it cut out before the results are announced. You can watch the Eurovision Song Contest for free anyway, meaning there’s no advantage whatsoever to using third-party streams.

Many of the streaming services showing Eurovision 2024 are region-locked. To access them while traveling abroad, you’ll need a VPN.

How to stream the Eurovision Song Contest abroad with a VPN

With the right VPN, it becomes trivial to bypass regional restrictions and stream geo-blocked content abroad. Follow the steps below to stream the Eurovision Song Contest from anywhere.

Here’s how to watch Eurovision live online from anywhere:

1. Start by signing up for a VPN, if you haven’t already. We recommend NordVPN but Surfshark and ExpressVPN are two high-quality alternatives.
2. Download and install the VPN software. Most services offer a variety of apps catering to different operating systems, so make sure to get the right one.
3. Choose one of the official Eurovision broadcasters below.
4. Connect to a VPN server in the appropriate country. For instance, you’d use a UK server to unblock the BBC iPlayer or a German server for Das Erste.
5. Play a video on the service you chose in step three. It should load immediately, but if not, you can solve most problems by clearing your browser’s cache and cookies, then reloading the page.

The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast live, so we recommend making sure your VPN works well in advance. This approach ensures that if anything doesn’t work as expected, you’ll still have time to contact your VPN’s customer support team for help, and might not have to miss the first few acts.

How to watch Eurovision for free on UK TV

As ever, Eurovision will air on the BBC in the UK. This means that you can stream the entire event live and free-of-charge on the BBC iPlayer. Don’t worry if you already have plans on May 11; Eurovision 2024 will be added to this platform’s on-demand library shortly after it ends.

You will have to create an account before you can watch anything, but this is a quick and easy process. During registration, you’ll be asked to enter a postcode, but this isn’t actually used to determine your location and, in fact, any British postal code will work. When you’re done, just verify your email address and start streaming.

British law says you need a TV license if you watch anything on the iPlayer. This is easy to accidentally overlook, though, as this service only alerts the user to this requirement occasionally. With no verification system in place, the BBC iPlayer effectively relies on users to police themselves.

The BBC iPlayer is only available in the UK, so you’ll need a VPN to watch Eurovision from overseas. Still need a VPN? You can take advantage of NordVPN’s risk-free, 30-day money-back guarantee; if you’re unsatisfied or only need a VPN for a short time, you can just cancel to claim a full refund.

Where else can I stream Eurovision online?

There is no shortage of international Eurovision broadcasters. In fact, you don’t even have to live in Europe to watch! Below, we’ll explain how to live stream Eurovision from anywhere in the world:

France

French fans can follow all of the action live on France.TV. The final will be on France TV at 21:00 CEST. One of the best things about this platform is that no registration or payment is necessary; as long as you’re in France (or connected to a French VPN server), you’re free to watch whatever you want.

You should note that while some of France.TV’s content allows you to change the audio language, with Eurovision, each country has its own commentary team, and as such, you likely won’t be able to watch in any language other than French.

Germany

The 2024 Eurovision Song Contest will be on ARD. This service is completely free-to-use, and there’s no need to create an account.

ARD is not region-locked but we still recommend using a VPN when streaming anything. Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have been known to reduce the network speeds of customers who stream frequently, but as VPNs hide your activities, they make this kind of throttling much harder to justify.

Italy

Eurovision 2024 will be broadcast live on Rai 1. This streaming platform allows you to watch for free, without signing up, but it is only available in Italy. Italians who are currently in other countries can still tune in by connecting to a VPN,

Spain

RTVE has exclusive rights to show the Eurovision Song Contest in Spain. The final will be on La 1 at 21:00 CEST. Users don’t have to sign up or pay anything to watch, although this service will only have Spanish-language coverage.

It’s possible to watch these channels from anywhere, but we advise you to use a VPN regardless. VPNs aren’t just for unblocking geo-restricted content, they also prevent any snoopers from seeing what you get up to online.

Australia

SBS is showing the final live, free-of-charge. However, you’ll have to sign up beforehand. This only takes a second, but be sure to do it in advance of the broadcat to avoid missing the start. This service usually adds new shows to its on-demand library a few hours after they air, but half of the fun of Eurovision is knowing that it’s live. Luckily, you can watch SBS live on Freeview, without even having to create an account.

SBS and Freeview are both region-locked, so you’ll have to use a VPN if you’re outside of Australia.

USA

Once again, American fans can stream the Eurovision Song Contest in its entirety on Peacock. You will likely need a premium plan to watch, though: these cost $5.99 USD per month with ads or $11.99 per month without.

Peacock is geo-restricted, so you’ll need a VPN to access it while outside of the US.

Other locations

If we haven’t mentioned your country above, don’t panic: Eurovision will be broadcast the world over, so you should still be able to watch. The official Eurovision YouTube channel, for instance, will have a live stream that anyone can watch.

Still no luck finding an official source where you are? There’s also an exhaustive list of regional broadcasters on the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest’s Wikipedia page.

How does the Eurovision Song Contest work?

First things first: it’s not only European countries that can take part in Eurovision. In fact, any associate member of the European Broadcasting Union can enter. This is why countries like Australia and Israel can participate, despite not being in Europe.

To begin with, each country chooses an artist. There are a few rules, though: the song they perform can’t be more than three minutes long, must have been released before September 1, 2023, has top be sung live, and no live instruments are permitted (yes, this means that the dramatic grand piano performance that shows up every year is pre-recorded).

After the performances have finished, the viewers in each country and a panel of music-industry veterans vote to see which countries they think deserve one, eight, ten, and twelve points. In the interest of fairness, you aren’t allowed to vote for your own country. Once all points have been tallied, the performer with most points wins, and their country gets to host the next year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Eurovision Song Contest 2024 entrants