On May 16th, the Eurovision contest celebrated its 70th anniversary in Vienna, Austria, in front of tens of millions of viewers (166 million in 2025). Officially apolitical, explicitly popular and primarily entertaining, this event is the largest live televised music program in the world. It is the subject of multiple geopolitical strategies, sometimes complex and aggressive. The battle for control of the media space complements the battle for geographical supremacy.
Throughout its history, Eurovision has reflected the aspirations of peoples for peace, the ambitions of states for supremacy, and their desires for prosperity. Let’s explore its social, economic, and geopolitical history. These are milestones in the collective history of Europeans. Eurovision is the soundtrack of the post-war continent’s “great film.”
Like the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC, 1951) and the European Economic Community (EEC, 1957), Eurovision emerged from the rejection of the horrors of World War II. The contest was created in 1956 by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), a Swiss-based professional association founded in 1950 that brings together audiovisual groups from Western Europe to form a broadcasting area accessible to its members.
1974 marked a commercial turning point for Eurovision. The goal of the EBU’s audiovisual groups and the contest’s founder, Marcel Bezençon, was to bring European viewers – including Germans and Italians – together around a common festive TV and radio program, despite language barriers and the scars of war.
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