it took seventeen years
The History of Eurovision Asia
The contest that debuts in Bangkok in November 2026 is the third attempt to bring Eurovision to Asia. The first two got as far as national selections and host-city bids before collapsing.
- 2008The EBU sells rights to an Asian edition, announced as the Asiavision Song Contest
- 2009Relaunched as Our Sound, with sixteen countries listed
- 2011Our Sound is postponed indefinitely
- 2016SBS and Blink TV revive the idea for the Gold Coast
- 2021SBS shelves the project
- 2025Bhutan starts — and is asked to stop — a selection show
- 2026Leaked on 29 March, announced on 31 March, staged on 14 November
2008–2011: Asiavision and Our Sound
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 4 March 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 realise: 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.
2016–2021: SBS and the Gold Coast plan
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 line-up 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 — centred 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.
2025: Voxovation and a false start in Bhutan
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 finalised.
2026: leaked, then launched
An unofficial website briefly leaked details of the contest on 29 March 2026, before it was quickly taken down. Two days later, on 31 March 2026, Eurovision Asia was formally confirmed with ten countries — timed to coincide with the Eurovision Song Contest's 70th anniversary. Mongolia joined as the eleventh in August, and the final list of eleven was published on 11 September.
Bhutan became the first country to choose an entry on 11 August. The venue was confirmed as One Bangkok Forum on 21 September, the presenters — Woody Milintachinda and Cindy Bishop — on 25 September, and tickets went on sale on 1 October. As of 14 October 2026, ten of the eleven entries had both an artist and a song.
Read the full story
For the run-up in more depth, see our pieces on the two contests that never happened, Bhutan's deleted 2025 national final and the website that leaked the contest two days early. Voxovation's other announced spin-offs — none of which has reached air — are covered in why Bangkok is the first in a decade to actually happen. For where things stand today, go to the Eurovision Asia 2026 hub.