Amazon’s Alexa helps out with Eurovision Song Contest discovery

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has developed a new Eurovision Song Contest-related skill for Amazon’s Alexa voice service, allowing users to discover and listen to Eurovision winnwers of Amazon Echo and Echo Dot devices.

The Eurovision feature, developed jointly by the EBU’s Technology and innovation and media departments, allows users in the UK, Germany, Austria and the US to discover who has won every Eurovision Song Contest since the event began in 1956, by asking Alexa who won in a particular year.

Alexa will then ask users if they want to hear the winner and can play all winning entries over the first 50 years of the contest.

Users can also ask when a particular country last won, which countries have won the most and which have never won, and when is the Grand Final of the current competition, among other combinations.

Amazon Echo owners in the UK will also be able to listen to a live stream of the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final through the skill via EBU member the BBC.

“The EBU is always at the forefront of innovation and with the growth of voice-controlled devices such as Amazon Echo we wanted to create a tool that provides added value to our flagship co-production. In time we hope to develop the “skill” to allow users to delve even deeper into the Eurovision Song Contest’s rich history,” said Simon Fell, director of technology and innovation at the EBU.

“Every year the Eurovision Song Contest gains more fans as they discover the world’s biggest entertainment show,” said the EBU’s director of media Jean Philip De Tender.

“This new skill allows those new to the event, and loyal followers alike, to discover all the great winners from the past and test their friends and family on how much they know about the Song Contest tool.”