Media Policy and Media History

May 2010: Lena Meyer-Landrut wins the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo – the first German singer to do so in nearly thirty years. Her success story is also the success story of an unusual collaboration between the private television channel ProSieben and the public broadcaster ARD.

On May 30, 2010, calls of “Lena! Lena!“ roar over the taxiway in Hanover as Lena Meyer-Landrut disembarks from the airplane. On the previous evening, she won the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Oslo and has now returned to her hometown. Thousands have come to greet her. They cheer, waving the German flag. Hanover, all Germany, is proud of her.

“Are you crazy? It’s raining, go inside“, calls Lena to the celebrating crowd. She can hardly believe her luck, is overwhelmed. The nineteen year-old schoolgirl has won Europe’s biggest musical competition. For nearly thirty years, no German succeeded in this. Lena’s triumph in Oslo is a sensation, and her return to Germany a media event. Three major television networks broadcast it live.

“A star like Lena can’t be made; she can only be found”, raved the head of Lena’s record company Universal Music in an interview. And it was two German television networks, in a unique cooperation, that together searched for and found this star.

Things coming together that do not belong together

When the public broadcaster ARD announced in July 2009 that it would join the commercial broadcaster ProSieben in searching for a German candidate for the ESC 2010, many media colleagues were at first skeptical. Some even warned things were coming together that did not belong together. But many respected the decision and were curious about the daring television experiment. ARD head of entertainment, Thomas Schreiber, was convinced that the collaboration would prove successful: “I always have faith in the power of a good idea”.

And he had faith in the good ideas of a man: Stefan Raab. The ProSieben moderator was to organize the German national final. Raab is a respected music producer and format developer. And he had ESC experience: Raab had taken part in the contest three times since 1998 as a successful composer, singer and producer – each time with a ranking among the top eight.

Together in one boat

Raab’s network also had faith in a successful collaboration with a public sector rival. “When it comes to such a big thing as this, we have to overcome limitations”, said the Chairman of ProSieben, Andreas Bartl. The “big thing” was the revival of a competition that had become increasingly unpopular in Germany.

German participants had done badly in the Eurovision Song Contest for years and were not spared mockery and malice for their embarrassing performances. The interest of the German public sank, especially among the young. ARD and ProSieben therefore brought the young people’s program of ARD Radio into the boat. The jointly formulated goal: To arouse the interest of the German audience for the ESC and to return from Oslo with the best possible ranking.

In February the search began for a German ESC candidate. ARD and ProSieben launched a casting program. Its special feature: unlike previous years, the television viewers now chose themselves their candidate and determined what song should be sung. The casting format “Our Star for Oslo” became a popular success.

An entire country in Lena fever

ARD and ProSieben showed the program alternately. In eight shows Lena sang and performed her way to victory. With her stunning charm, her fresh and lively manner, she triggered a euphoria that Germany had long not experienced. She thrilled the audience and carried all before her – including the media.

“Lena is a story that teaches us much about the possibility of making a success out of what we like doing most”, says Imre Grimm, editor at the Hannoverschen Allgemeinen Zeitung, a newspaper of Lena’s hometown. “She stands for the dream you have when you are eighteen, for possibilities that you have when you are young, for the world that lies open before you. She reminds us a little about what could have been.”

More successful than the Beatles

Lena’s dreams have become true. Her music is very successful. Even before her final victory in Oslo, she broke a record in Germany: she is the first artist to have had right off three hits in the top five of the charts. Not even the Beatles or Michael Jackson succeeded in this.

Lena’s song Satellite and her first album have achieved gold and platinum status. After her victory, she has now planned a second album for which she is writing her own songs. This summer she is traveling through Europe, visiting radio stations and TV shows. Next year a tour is planned. And ARD’s and ProSieben’s successful joint project will also be continued.

“Never change a winning team”

It continues in 2011. The two networks announced this even before the finale in Oslo. Lena’s victory crowned the successful collaboration of a commercial with a public service broadcaster. Together ProSieben and ARD have written a chapter of television history. “Never change a winning team”, says ProSiebenSat1 Chairman Andreas Bartl.

But this “winning team” will still have to face a problem. How can they repeat such a high ratings television event as the German national final? Because there can’t be a new edition of the casting show; Lena means to defend her title.