After hosting the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of Ukraine this May, many wondered why the United Kingdom had not yet formally announced their participation for Malmö — well that has finally come.

In a press release Wednesday, the BBC has confirmed that it will send an artist to Eurovision 2024 and that the Semi Finals and Grand Final will be broadcast live from Malmö on BBC One and BBC iPlayer again for a second year.

Lee Smithurst, who was Executive Producer & Head Of Show of Eurovision 2023 Liverpool, was confirmed to have led the search for the UK’s 2024 act over the summer, along with Will Wilkin, Commissioning Executive BBC Music.

More information about the UK’s entry for Malmö will come in due course.

The press release goes on to celebrate the Contest held in Liverpool, noting:

• overall coverage of Eurovision 2023 across TV, Radio and Online increased in to a pan-BBC reach of 55% and an audience of almost 30 million (3 Min+ Reach), making it the most watched Contest ever in the United Kingdom;
• the Eurovision 2023 Grand Final averaged 10.7 million viewers, the biggest 28-day audience seen on current records (since 2002);
• the Grand Final saw 2.0 million young viewers (ages 16-34) tune in, making it one of the top programmes for young audiences on the BBC so far this year, and the highest young audience seen for Eurovision since 2011;
• There were also audience highs for the Semi-Finals which aired on BBC One for the first time, seeing the highest audiences seen (since records were kept in 2002) for both Semi Final 1 (2.6 million viewers) and Semi Final 2 (2.5 million viewers).

In Liverpool, Mae Muller represented the United Kingdom on home soil, coming in 25th place in the Grand Final with I Wrote a Song, making it the UK’s second best result in the previous four Contests.

What do you make of the news? Who do you hope was on Lee Smithurt’s radar this summer? Let us know in the comments below or on our socials @escbubble!