History

The idea of bringing Eurovision to Asia is much older than the 2026 contest itself. The EBU first sold the rights to an Asian edition in September 2008, announced as the "Asiavision Song Contest" and coordinated by a Singapore-based company of the same name. A naming conflict with the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union forced a rebrand, and the contest formally launched on March 4, 2009 as "Our Sound – The Asia-Pacific Song Contest." That first attempt was ambitious on paper — sixteen countries were slated to compete, among them China, Japan, and India — and it got further than most people realize: the Philippines and Cambodia had both started their own national selections before a string of delays and venue changes (Macau, then Mumbai) ended with the whole project postponed indefinitely in 2011.

The concept resurfaced in 2016, when Australia's SBS — long a Eurovision broadcast partner and, since 2015, a contest participant in its own right — picked the idea back up with production partner Blink TV, aiming for a launch on the Gold Coast in late 2019. That version's intended lineup looked nothing like the one competing in 2026: it was theoretically open to one broadcaster per Asia-Pacific country regardless of regional-union membership — as many as 68 possible participants — centered on Australia and the Pacific, and shares almost no countries with today's actual field except South Korea. Those plans didn't come together, and SBS ultimately shelved the project in 2021.

From there, the rights passed to Voxovation, a company set up specifically to adapt the Eurovision format for new regions, with Assaf Blecher serving as executive producer alongside Marcus Tang. Momentum began building again in 2025, when Bhutan's national broadcaster BBS jumped ahead of any official announcement with its own selection show, Druk Dra — before Voxovation stepped in and asked them to pause it while the wider format was still being finalized.

An unofficial website briefly leaked details of the contest on March 29, 2026, before it was quickly taken down. Two days later, on March 31, 2026, Eurovision Asia was formally confirmed — timed to coincide with the Eurovision Song Contest's 70th anniversary.

For the full run-up in more depth, see our pieces on the two contests that never happened and Bhutan's deleted 2025 national final.