Eurovision is losing countries, money and viewers due to the boycott of Israel. However, Israel is holding its own in the televoting.

In the end, the Netherlands will not be taking part in the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest. This was announced on Tuesday by the NPO, the body that coordinates Dutch public service broadcasters, reversing the decision taken just a month ago to return to the contest: none of the TV stations approached agreed to put forward a Dutch artist. The reason is Israel’s involvement, although it is never mentioned by name in the statement: “Due to the sensitivities surrounding the issues currently under discussion, we have decided to take a step back for the time being”.

This is the second change of course in three months. In August, Avrotros, the broadcaster that had until then managed the Dutch participation, withdrew, arguing that the competition could no longer “be considered neutral”. In September, the NPO had decided to return anyway, but around 400 employees signed a letter calling for the decision to be reconsidered, and the broadcasters approached withdrew one after the other. More than just a boycott by a single country, the issue essentially concerns a public broadcaster that nobody wants to be associated with. And this is precisely what makes the boycott a serious problem for the Song Contest: Eurovision is not a competition between governments, but between public service broadcasters. It is the broadcasters who pay for the organisation and marketing, who broadcast the show, and who appoint the juries. Every broadcaster that pulls out takes a share of the funding with it, and leaves the organisers with a smaller audience to offer sponsors. The withdrawal of five countries from the Vienna edition – Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland and Slovenia – cost the contest, as Lisa Borst wrote in Harper’s Magazine, “a small fortune” in lost participation fees and advertising revenue. Without Spain, one of the “Big Five” – the five countries that contribute most to the costs – the blow was also financial. This was reflected in the viewing figures: the 2026 contest was watched by 131 million viewers, 35 million fewer than the previous year. More than a fifth of the audience was lost in a single year, with just 35 countries competing – the lowest number in over twenty years.

At the EBU, the European Broadcasting Union which organises the contest, Eurovision Director Martin Green said he was “deeply disappointed” by the Dutch decision and emphasised the festival’s “spirit of unity”. A spirit, to be honest, that has been put to the test almost ever since Israel began taking part in 1973 – the first country not to belong to the continent. In 1978, when Israel won for the first time, several Arab television stations refused to broadcast its performance, and the Jordanian broadcaster, once victory became apparent, filled the rest of the live broadcast with a static image of a bouquet of daffodils. The following year, at the Jerusalem contest, Turkey boycotted the event. This year, when the EBU refused to exclude Israel, Spain’s RTVE spoke of ‘political pressure’, Ireland’s RTE described participation as ‘unacceptable’ in light of the ‘horrific loss of life in Gaza’, whilst Slovenia’s RTVSLO withdrew ‘on behalf of the 20,000 children who have died in Gaza’. A recurring theme is the comparison with Russia, which the EBU excluded immediately following its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

The countdown to 2027 has already begun. In addition to the Netherlands, Ireland confirmed in September that it would not be taking part, and the president of Spain’s RTVE has spoken out in favour of a new boycott. The Czech Republic has also withdrawn, but due to budget cuts: when public television budgets are tightened, Eurovision becomes the first expendable expense, with or without a political reason to cite. Canada, however, will be joining – the first North American country to do so – in the same year that Brussels offered it the chance to become the Union’s first ‘associate member’ (whatever that may mean). Whilst parts of Europe are pulling out, the country that Trump would like to see as the 51st state has chosen to sing alongside the Europeans. After all, it has already won once before: in 1988, with Céline Dion, who was, however, competing for Switzerland. The next contest will be held in Burgas, Bulgaria, on 15 May, following Dara’s victory in Vienna.

There is, however, a paradox that the boycotters prefer to ignore. Whilst television broadcasters are pulling out, the voting public continues to favour Israel. In the May final, the Israeli singer Noam Bettan, who came eighth in the juries’ voting, received 220 points from the public vote, which put him at the top of the rankings for a few minutes, before Bulgaria’s victory. As early as 2025, Israel had won the televote in Spain by a wide margin, despite public opinion there being among the most critical in Europe regarding the war. An investigation by the New York Times claimed that behind this lay a promotional campaign by the Israeli government, costing over a million dollars, and that, ultimately, so few people vote that the results can easily be manipulated. Nevertheless, the fact remains. There is one final detail: the Netherlands will not be sending a singer to Burgas, but the 2027 Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast as usual on Dutch public television, just as it was this year, when the Netherlands and Iceland were not competing but the contest was broadcast all the same. They are boycotting the contest, not the viewing figures.