Tonight at 20:30 (CET), the premiere episode of ‘HaKokhav HaBa for Eurovision‘ will be broadcast. The season finale will determine Israel’s representative for Eurovision 2025. Stay tuned!
The 11th season of ‘HaKokhav HaBa‘ for Eurovision 2025 kicks off tonight! At 20:30 (CET), the premiere episode of the reality show that will select Israel’s next Eurovision representative will air. Season filming began about a month ago, on October 10th, with the audition stage set to be broadcast over the coming weeks. The winner at the end of the season will represent Israel at Eurovision 2025. The show will be available on Keshet 12 and Mako LIVE.
Hosts, Judges, and Contestants
Assi Azar and Rotem Sela will host the 11th season. As most of you probably remember, Assi Azar hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 2019, which took place in Tel Aviv. The judging panel includes Assaf Amdursky, Ran Danker, Shiri Maimon, Keren Peles, Itay Levi, and Eden Hasson – all returning from last season, which crowned Eden Golan as the winner. The season expected to conclude in early February.
Thousands of singers auditioned for the show, including established names in the Israeli music industry. Among the confirmed contestants are a collaboration between Moran Aharoni and Red Band, the girl group Hamsa, singer Ron Buhnik, Israel’s 2016 Junior Eurovision representative Timoti Sannikov, social media star Ester Aweke, reality TV personality Tanya Lauren, renowned Haredi singer Beni Elbaz, “Israel’s Got Talent” star Tali Kuper, and “X Factor Israel” star Anna Timofei.
Collaboration Between ‘Kan’ and ‘Keshet’
On July 23rd, we revealed that the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC) and the commercial TV Broadcaster ‘Keshet’ agreed to continue their collaboration for Eurovision 2025. The agreement allows for the continuation of the popular program “HaKokhav HaBa“, which will select Israel’s representative for the competition to be held in Switzerland. This will be the eighth time the two channels collaborate in selecting the Israeli representative for Eurovision.
Impressive Ratings and Past Success
The success of the program is also evident in its impressive viewing figures. The last season of “HaKokhav HaBa” was the most watched since 2019, with exposure to 3.3 million viewers on television alone. The broadcast of the Eurovision 2024 grand final also achieved impressive viewing figures, with 1.129 million television viewers – 36.8% viewing rate, and a 62.9% viewing share. At the peak of viewing, during Eden Golan‘s performance, 1.709 million viewers watched the broadcast, representing 53.6% of households in Israel.
Challenges and Expectations
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 Israeli Broadcasting Corporation hopes that next year will pass more peacefully.
The decision to continue the collaboration with Keshet also stems from economic considerations, allowing the KAN to save on the heavy costs involved in preparing for the competition.
The continued collaboration between Kan and Keshet promises 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.
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.
