Eurovision Rest of the World vote opens

The Eurovision Song Contest opened its 2026 “Rest of the World” online vote on May 16, extending Grand Final participation to viewers outside the countries taking part in this year’s contest. Eurovisionworld’s event pages for Vienna 2026 say the Grand Final will be held on May 16 in Vienna with 25 finalists and a voting system that combines national juries, televoting from participating countries and online voting from the “Rest of the World.” Vienna’s Grand Final begins at 21:00 CEST from Wiener Stadthalle, according to Eurovisionworld’s show guide. The same guide says hosts Victoria Swarovski, Michael Ostrowski and Emily Busvine will front the broadcast as the contest reaches its final night. ### Who can use the “Rest of the World” vote? The “Rest of the World” vote is designed for viewers outside the participating Eurovision countries. (eurovisionworld.com) Eurovisionworld’s 2026 results page describes it as an online vote that sits alongside the televote from participating countries and the national juries. The European Broadcasting Union’s official Eurovision site signaled broader voting changes ahead of Vienna 2026 in an open letter from contest director Martin Green CBE published five months ago. (eurovisionworld.com) Search results from Eurovision’s official site describe that letter as addressing “changes to the voting framework of the Contest ahead of Vienna 2026.” (eurovisionworld.com) ### How much does that vote count on the night? Eurovisionworld says the “Rest of the World” vote is folded into the Grand Final result using the same 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 12-point format used elsewhere in Eurovision voting. Its 2026 results page lists national juries and the online global vote alongside televoting from participating countries. That means overseas viewers do not each create a separate national score. (eurovision.tv) Instead, the online vote is aggregated into one set of points, according to Eurovisionworld’s description of the system. ### Which countries are in Saturday’s Grand Final? Eurovisionworld says 35 countries are taking part in Eurovision 2026, with 25 appearing in the Grand Final. The finalists consist of host country Austria, the “Big-4” automatic qualifiers — Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom — plus 10 qualifiers from each of the two semi-finals held on May 12 and May 14. (eurovisionworld.com) The same event page lists Vienna, Austria, as the host city and Österreichischer Rundfunk, or ORF, as the broadcaster producing the contest. (eurovisionworld.com) Eurovisionworld’s Grand Final guide says the 2026 show is staged at Wiener Stadthalle. ### What running order did producers set for the 25 finalists? ORF, the Austrian broadcaster producing this year’s contest, finalized the Grand Final running order after the second semi-final, Eurovisionworld reported on May 15. (eurovisionworld.com) The site says producers continued the recent Eurovision practice of setting the order after an allocation draw split acts into first half, second half and “Producer Decides” categories. (eurovisionworld.com) The published order starts with Denmark and ends with Austria in slot 25. Eurovisionworld’s list puts Germany second, Israel third, the United Kingdom 14th, France 15th, Italy 22nd and Austria last. ### What else is set before the broadcast begins? Eurovisionworld’s Grand Final guide says the show will open with a film linking Basel 2025 to Vienna 2026 before the ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien performs “The Queen of the Night” from “The Magic Flute.” The guide says reigning winner JJ then appears on stage to perform a new single titled “Unknown.” (eurovisionworld.com) The same guide says 25 songs will be performed over roughly four hours before the winner is revealed. (eurovisionworld.com) It also says the contest can be streamed on YouTube. ### When will viewers know the result? May 16 is the decision point for Eurovision 2026, with juries, participating-country televoters and the “Rest of the World” online vote all feeding into the Grand Final result in Vienna. (eurovisionworld.com) Eurovisionworld says the winner will be determined during Saturday night’s live broadcast from Wiener Stadthalle after all 25 finalists perform. (eurovisionworld.com)