Who Is The Target Demographic of the “American Song Contest”?

As one spin-off dies another is born, and thus does the circle of life continue. Eurovision Choir (probably due to Covid logistics) will not be coming to our screens this year and it remains to be seen what exactly the future holds for that spin-off. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has achieved moderate success with many of their spin-off Eurovisions… but none have yet managed to reach the heights of their older sister. We do love a super trouper though and the EBU is not without an idea or two up their sleeve for ways to adapt and expand the Eurovision brand. So maybe large choirs are not feasible during a pandemic but there’s no reason for the EBU not to send the contest’s format off to the United States to see if it can take off there!

On paper this is at first a great move. A new market for the contest, with a large population and distinct regions tied together by a common broadcaster! The logistical problems of the unsuccessful Eurovision Asia can be chucked out of the window then as it is much easier for one party to organise everything amongst an already strongly associated group of participants than it is to branch across international borders and broadcasters. But there is one small thing that makes me wonder exactly what this contest will end up looking like… A song contest is not exactly an unheard of concept.

I’m pretty hopeful that the EBU will manage to get “AmericaVision” off the ground. Careful organisation and thought has clearly gone into this project. In fact they have the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) already onside, giving not only the EBU but also NBC a financial incentive to make this work. Christer Björkman has also been heavily involved in establishing this project and knowing how he managed to change Sweden’s Melodifestivalen and grow its audience, with a little bit of luck he can apply that knowledge here. The USA isn’t Sweden though and the USA isn’t Europe, so in many ways whilst I would expect to see the influences of its counterparts, I would hope (for its own sake) that the American Song Contest manages to find an identity of its own.

The bottom line is if this show is going to be a success, it has to differentiate itself from any other talent show already on the telly and find a way to relate to its American audience. Sure a singing show can go on for a few years but they all too easily grow stale and soon enough a prime time show on another channel has stolen a chunk of its viewership. If it wants to stick around twenty, thirty years plus; it needs to find an identity.

In that sense the American Song Contest is probably one of the most unpredictable and exciting spin-offs the EBU has done so far. It will inevitably need to import the distinct Eurovision flavour to make it stand out from the crowd but it equally cannot afford to be geared towards Europeans. I may well watch it if it is not geoblocked over here, but ultimately the number of Eurofans are small and the audience they really need to target – if the show is going to be of worth to NBC will be found domestically. In Europe we love (or love to loathe) Eurovision, I really hope the Americans manage to create something that they can proudly call their own and will grace their TV screens for many years.

That is of course no mean feat and the United States does not have the legacy of tradition that has kept Eurovision so ingrained in European culture behind it (yet). To do that Björkman and the team will have to know who they are making this show for, what it is going to be like and let it become what it needs to be. As a European, I cannot even begin to predict what that will look like but I am hopeful that NBC have a plan, after all they know their own audience best! It will just be interesting to observe if the contest runs in tangent to its European counterpart or goes its own route very quickly. Will the shows inspire each other and take rules from each other? Will the audience demographics be similar or vastly different? What genres of music will dominate the contest? Will the American version even persist? Will it be what American Eurovision fans want or target a completely different audience’s tastes?

At this stage there is no way of telling. Maybe the EBU and NBC only have short-term plans for it or maybe they want to create another global phenomenon but ultimately there is a lot at play here and it will be interesting to follow. I just hope the end product is something that Americans end up loving.

Are you pumped for the American Song Contest or are you skeptical it will even happen? Feel free to start a discussion! If you liked this article you can always share it on social media too and you can always talk to us there as well. Thanks for sticking around.