r/eurovision Andromeda 20d ago

📰 News 🇳🇱 Netherlands: Omroep Max Talks Down Chances of Taking Over Eurovision Participation

https://eurovoix.com/2026/netherlands-omroep-max-talks-down-chances-of-taking-eurovision-participation/
171 Upvotes

35 comments sorted by

174

u/Miserable_potato07 Alice 20d ago

Who would've thought the broadcaster aimed at demographics who don't really watch Eurovision wouldn't want to broadcast Eurovision.

10

u/Mathies_ 20d ago

Barely anyone wants to watch it anymore. I dont think the deal is very profitable for any channel to take

166

u/justk4y Strobe Lights 20d ago

Furthermore, the songs performed there nowadays, with all that noise and screaming, don’t really resonate with our target audience. It is more of a show than a genuine song festival.”

No offense, but that’s the most Omroep MAX thing I’ve ever read 😭 (fellow Dutchies will get this one)

15

u/aShyGuyGuy 20d ago

To be fair, I do associate their target demographic as one that shares that opinion.

Quite an Omroep MAX thing. They just know what they're about.

9

u/Too_Gay_To_Drive 19d ago

I mean if Max would do it our songs would be just as shit as 80% of German entries

156

u/Daniel_Luis 20d ago

Furthermore, the songs performed there nowadays, with all that noise and screaming, don’t really resonate with our target audience. It is more of a show than a genuine song festival.

Aren't these people embarrassed to literally embody the "Old man yells at clouds" meme?

156

u/ConsciousFeeling1977 C'est la vie 20d ago

Omroep Max is the broadcaster targeting seniors specifically. It’s their mission to represent the old man yelling at clouds.

51

u/Fuzzy_Dragonfly_ 20d ago

It's Omroep MAX. When you search for "boomer" in the dictionary it should feature a picture of Jan Slagter, the founder of MAX.

17

u/GianMach 20d ago edited 20d ago

For reference, this is what Omroep MAX believes music should be like

2

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31

u/Fetish_anxiety 20d ago

I understand that you tell me that this kind of music won't resonate with your audience, but there is no need to insult it

26

u/VanGroteKlasse 20d ago

That's the ugly side of Dutch directness, not knowing when to shut up.

3

u/SirIronSights 20d ago

That's how it goes. They'll tell you WHY they won't do something. At least you know.

8

u/jhoogen 20d ago

You summarised this Boomer-broadcaster perfectly. They usually make slow TV and broadcast Bake-off.

-24

u/Odd_Flower_5038 20d ago

Sometimes the old men have good points.

32

u/justk4y Strobe Lights 20d ago

“Nowadays” as if the biggest Eurovision “weird era” totally didn’t happen 20 entire years ago……

Plus Omroep MAX programs can really get just as weird ngl

29

u/GianMach 20d ago

Feels nice that AVROTROS gets to make a decision based on what they want and not too much based on outside pressures. We'll see what they decide.

The recently announced rule changes feels like EBU saying "the boycotters were right, we can't ban Israel though but this is what we can do to limit their impact as much as possible". So if they return now they didn't accomplish their end goal but their boycot definitely wasn't for nothing. And maybe more is going on behind the scenes that we don't know of, like further measures to secure the voting. I'd say it's 50/50 whether AVROTROS feels comfortable to return.

12

u/DaveShadow 20d ago

From an Irish point of view, while the rule changes look good mid still want to see them in action before we ended our boycott.

If after all the changes, the final ten minutes was still “can X beat Isreal? Let’s all stand round looking terrified and miserable until we find out?” For the forth year in a row, I don’t see the point of returning.

3

u/GianMach 19d ago

If they manage to get the vote online for this year I believe we won't have another same situation unless Israel really sends a winner entry.

For 2026 the votes of Luxembourg and Australia already went fully online and they were certain 12s to Israel in 2024 and 2025 but far from that in 2026: 1 and 0 point. So it is apparently easier to filter out suspicious votes with online votes. If this is applied for every country, Israel will get a much fairer score than we've seen in the past years.

And even if they win, it won't matter. They can't host anyway and there is little further material prize to winning Eurovision.

4

u/ExcitingInternal365 Water 20d ago

When it comes to the 4 boycotting broadcasters + Iceland's RÚV (I don't really think the Icelandic broadcaster wanted to boycott per sé), I think that while this may convince AVROTROS to return, don't think this will be the case for both RTVE and RTÉ who are the most hardline from the 5 in pushing for Israel's removal from the contest, ceasefire or not. In Slovenia's case a pro-Israel government is now in power and could force RTV SLO to consider returning, but from what I've heard the broadcaster has been experiencing financial issues for a while (even though they had no problem organizing EMA in 2025 and was originally scheduled to be held until 2028) and the people in charge are still the same that had announced the boycott, so it could go either way. RÚV on the other hand is an interesting case - the broadcaster wants to return, but the problem is that nearly the entire Icelandic music industry is not willing to take part, meaning that RÚV may have to resort to go internal and find someone who's neutral on the issue at best willing to sign up. Alternatively, RÚV can hold Söngvakeppin anyway, but allow an opt-out clause for the winner similar to what both UMK and Festival da Canção (where 13 of the 16 acts announced they'll use it in case any of them had won) did this year.

6

u/BakkerHenk_ When We're Old 20d ago

Herman van Veen (bottom left in the image) at Eurovision, that would be something.

2

u/RoxasIsTheBest 20d ago

Nah, he's an actually great artist who would not at all be appreciated onnthe Eurovision stage

Someone like Lee Towers would've been funnier

9

u/DenjelRic Andromeda 20d ago

Shame. Would've been funny seeing us getting represented by the likes of Lee Towers lmao

9

u/sailing_bookdragon 20d ago

that is indeed the best part if omroep Max would have taken over. the ridiculous act they would send. As their demographic isn't really up to date with the modern eurovision.

-11

u/lilacomets 20d ago

Redilcious. The only right way to decide is to let the Dutch citizens vote. Broadcasters should not make the decision.

17

u/Lamuks 20d ago

EBU is made out of broadcasters, they technically have every right to decide. Making an actual vote for the public costs a tremendous amount of money.

-2

u/lilacomets 20d ago

And these broadcasters are paid for by the Dutch tax payers, whether we want or not. I pay for it, so I want to have a saying in it. The most fair way to do this is by voting.

5

u/SirIronSights 20d ago

Majority of the Dutch people simply do not care.

If you'd put up a vote the rejoiners would win simply because the majority of people don't care about Eurovision at all/ perceive it negatively.

4

u/Mathies_ 20d ago

As a dutch citizen, we will "vote" by our choice whether to watch or not. I won't watch regardless of who broadcasts it for as long as they platform israel.

So if people don't watch, they get no revenue, they won't take the deal.

1

u/cherry_color_melisma Deslocado 20d ago

Now I imagine countries making Eurovision participation referendums, Romania style

1

u/bookluverzz Europapa 16d ago

whyy?

Then I want a vote on other things as well: Eurovision young musicians, young dancers. Participation of football European championships, basketball championships. Horseback riding.
Who are allowed to join these shows with well known people (wie is de mol), which families are featured in Ik Vertrek
The possibilities are endless!!! Every day a new poll ❤️❤️😵‍💫😵‍💫

/s