In a new departure for PI, we will be providing the media operations for the Eurovision Song Contest, Liverpool 2023. It’s the first time we have been involved with this truly iconic event, and while it is not sport it is certainly a fierce competition.
As most people know, Ukraine won the contest last year and so they would usually have the honour of hosting the contest this year. Sadly, the Russian invasion of Ukraine made this impossible and the BBC stepped in to hold the contest on behalf of Ukraine. A national contest was held, with seven cities shortlisted from initial expressions of interest from 20 cities all over the U.K. Liverpool was announced as the winner last October.
This is the 67th iteration of the show, which has an almost unbroken lineage going all the way back to 1956. (In 2020, COVID put a stop to it). This makes it the longest-running annual international televised music competition in the world, and one of the world’s longest-running television programmes. The Grand Final will take place on Saturday 13th May 2023, and is the first time the contest has been held in the United Kingdom for 25 years. Its global TV audience runs into the hundreds of millions – annual audience figures vary from 100 million to 600 million – and it has a reach well beyond Europe. Thankfully the live broadcast show will be led by the experts of BBC Studios Entertainment and Music, but Pearce International will be looking after the written press, photographers, bloggers, influencers and new media outlets, all of whom are hugely keen to get the many fascinating stories to fans all over the globe.
Liverpool is of course world famous as a musical city, but it also has a connection to Ukraine that goes back almost as long as the Eurovision itself. This year it is celebrating its 65th anniversary of its twinning with the Ukrainian city of Odesa, and we can be sure that this special competition will have a strong Ukrainian flavour, as well as an unmistakable Scouse one.
Of course, Pearce International is no stranger to Liverpool: we have been there for the Champions’ League games with Liverpool FC, we have been there for the Netball World Cup in 2019 and most recently we were there for the FIG World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Liverpool 2022. It is a brilliant city for competition, a brilliant city for events, a brilliant city for music and now all three of these are coming together in the most amazing way.
Boas at the ready!
