This morning, filming began for the new season of ‘Hakochav Haba‘ (The Next Star), Israel’s national selection show for Eurovision 2025. The show will air on Keshet 12 in November.

The reality show “Hakokhav Haba” (The Next Star) for Eurovision 2025 kicked off today (Thursday) with the start of filming for its 11th season. This program will select Israel’s representative for Eurovision 2025, and expectations are high. The beloved hosts Assi Azar and Rotem Sela will once again lead the show. The judging panel for this season includes Assaf Amdursky, Keren Peles, Shiri Maimon, Eden Hason, Ran Danker, and Itay Levi, bringing a wide and diverse range of experience that promises a fascinating and challenging competition, no less than the previous season. Filming began this morning with the audition stage, in front of a live audience at Neve Ilan Studios.

The new season is expected to start airing in November, and we promise to continue providing you with more updates and additional details as the program’s air date approaches. Stay tuned and don’t miss the opportunity to discover with us who will be Israel’s next representative at Eurovision 2025!




Impressive Ratings and Achievements

The decision to continue the collaboration comes on the heels of the impressive success of Eden Golan, Israel’s representative for Eurovision 2024, who achieved a respectable fifth place with the song “Hurricane“. Golan, chosen in the previous season of “Hakochav Haba for Eurovision“, managed to reach the grand final and bring great honor to Israeel in a particularly challenging year.

Since the beginning of the collaboration between Kan (Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation) and Keshet in 2015, all representatives chosen through the program have succeeded in reaching the Eurovision final. The peak came in 2018 when Netta Barzilai won first place with the song “Toy” and brought the competition to Israel. Additionally, Israel has placed in the top ten three more times.

The success of the program is also evident in its impressive viewing figures. The last season of “Hakochav Haba for Eurovision” was the most watched since 2019, with an exposure of 3.3 million viewers on television alone. The Eurovision 2024 final broadcast also achieved impressive viewing figures, with 1.129 million television viewers – a 36.8% viewing rate and a 62.9% viewing share. At the peak of viewership, during Eden Golan’s performance, 1.709 million viewers watched the broadcast, representing 53.6% of households in Israel. Additionally, about half a million entries were recorded for the live broadcast on Kan’s digital platforms.




Challenges and Expectations for the Future

Despite the success, the last Eurovision was not without challenges. The political and security tension following the war in the Gaza Strip was strongly felt behind the scenes of the competition. However, the IPBC hopes that the coming year will pass more peacefully.

The decision to continue the collaboration with Keshet is also due to economic considerations. The collaboration allows the broadcasting corporation to save on the heavy costs involved in preparing for the competition, securing and traveling the delegation, producing the music video, and performing on stage. This saving allows the corporation to invest in new and original quality content unrelated to the Eurovision competition.

The continued collaboration between Kan and Keshet ensures the continuation of a successful tradition of selecting Israel’s representatives for Eurovision. We can only hope that the chosen representative will continue Israel’s tradition of success at Eurovision and perhaps even bring the competition back to Israel.




Israel in Eurovision 2024

“Hurricane” is the name of the song performed by singer Eden Golan, who was chosen to represent Israel after winning the tenth season of “HaKokhav Haba“. Israel advanced to the final after winning the second semi-final with 194 points, and in the grand final reached fifth place with 375 points. In the public vote, Israel came in second place, just 14 points behind the first place.

This is the second consecutive time that Israel has reached the top five, an achievement it had not attained since its streak of successes in 1998-1999.

Eurovision 2024: This was Israel’s 46th participation in Eurovision. Israel joined the competition in 1973 and has won it four times over the years. Israel’s last victory was at Eurovision 2018 with the song “Toy” performed by singer Netta Barzilai.