Eurovision Asia 2026 is the third attempt at this contest. The first two got remarkably far — one had national selections airing in two countries before it collapsed — and almost nobody writing about Bangkok today mentions them.
Here is the full eighteen-year run-up.
Attempt one: Asiavision, then Our Sound (2008–2011)
The announcement
In September 2008, the EBU announced it had sold the rights to an Asian version of the Eurovision Song Contest to a private company. It was to be called the Asiavision Song Contest, with 15 countries competing, coordinated by a Singapore-based company called Asiavision led by German entrepreneur Andreas Gerlach.
The first problem: the name
The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union already used “Asiavision” for its news exchange service and objected. The contest was rebranded Our Sound — The Asia-Pacific Song Contest, formally launched on 4 March 2009.
The format
Ambitious and genuinely different. Sixteen broadcasters were slated to compete — Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
The contest was to be spread across a weekend: all songs performed Friday night, public voting by SMS and online overnight, results revealed by national spokespersons in a separate Saturday “Winners Show”.
Note that lineup. It contained China, India, Japan and Indonesia — every major market absent from Bangkok in 2026.
The collapse
The unravelling was slow and comprehensive:
- Delayed from November 2009 to March 2010, relocated to Macau
- Japan and South Korea withdrew, cutting the field from 15 to 13
- Delayed again and moved to Mumbai for 26–28 November 2010
- A further delay in September 2010
- Postponed indefinitely in 2011 over problems between the organisers and the EBU
Crucially, this was not abandoned on paper. National selections had begun. The Philippines’ GMA started promoting its search in November 2009 through a segment of the variety show SOP Fully Charged. Cambodia launched a show in December 2009.
Real broadcasters spent real money on a contest that never happened.
Attempt two: SBS and the Gold Coast (2016–2021)
A different model
In March 2016 the EBU signed a deal with Australia’s SBS, working with production partner Blink TV, to develop the Eurovision Asia Song Contest. Australia’s guest appearance at Eurovision’s 60th anniversary had reignited interest.
This attempt was extraordinarily inclusive on paper: SBS’s plans from May 2016 envisaged one broadcaster per Asia-Pacific country being eligible regardless of APBU membership — a theoretical maximum of 68 participants.
How close it got
Very close. The contest was scheduled for the Gold Coast, 30 November to 7 December 2019, at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre — the same venue SBS used for Eurovision — Australia Decides.
By August 2019 SBS was describing it as still in development with no update. It never happened. SBS shelved the project in 2021.
The rights passed to Voxovation.
The academic footnote
This attempt attracted scholarly attention. A 2020 paper by Denise Woods examined Australia’s role and argued that for an Asian Eurovision to work, it needed a framework built on the region’s own history and geopolitics rather than a Eurocentric model imposed on it.
Read against the 2026 contest — Thai-hosted, Thai-produced, majority Southeast and South Asian — that critique looks fairly well answered.
What the third attempt did differently
Three things, visible only with this history in view.
It announced late. Our Sound announced in 2008 for 2009 and spent three years slipping. The 2026 contest announced on 31 March for 14 November — under eight months.
It started small. Eleven confirmed countries against Our Sound’s 16 and SBS’s theoretical 68.
It is commercially run. See our explainer on the commercial model.
There is one eerie echo. Mumbai was floated as a host city for Our Sound in 2010 — and again by Bhutan’s broadcaster in 2025, during the episode we covered in our Druk Dra piece. Neither happened.
Follow the contest that finally did on our national selection calendar.
Last updated 25 August 2026.