Eurovision By The Numbers

The folks at Eurovision Song Contest share some fun facts about the technical production, this 63rd edition held for the first time in Portugal at the Altice Arena.

Lighting
GLP KV-N Arc strobe prototypes were used.
• 14 lighting consoles
• 152,000 control parameters
• 300 active DMX universes
• 24 followspots controlled a Robe RoboSpot followspot system.
• The back wall had 351 Ayrton MagicPanel-FX fixtures.
• Total number of lighting fixtures: 2,632
• 24 days of pre-programming for the lighting designer and six operators, with 32 crew to run lighting operations in show mode
• 88,024 meters of cable

Stage
• The backdrop comprised 56 rib-shaped structures ranging from 4.5m up to 13.5m high.
• The stage floor was a 460 sqm round center stage surrounded by a 220 sqm runway accessible from stage by two 12m steel constructed bridges
• The greenroom was a 480 sqm lounge area for the delegations at the far end of the arena. It accommodated up to 26 delegations at the same time.
• The stage was surrounded by three suspended spheres, measuring from 60m to 120m long.
• More than 3,000 pixel-by-pixel controlled LED strip lights were used in this stage.

Sound
• 20 loudspeaker arrays were flown, comprising 239 loudspeakers
• 232 microphones
• 15 sound consoles
• 250 IEM molds
• 110 IEM Receivers
• 18 IEM Transmitters
• 30 crew to run the sound operations in show mode

Pyro/Effects
• 8 heavy fog outlets on stage
• Wind machines
• Snow machines
• Smoke bubbles
• Waterfall
• Moving flames (brand new)
• Sparklers (brand new)
• 50 pyro positions in the stage
• 50kg of confetti for the winning song

Rigging
• 220 tons of rigged equipment in the roof
• 667 rigging points
• 74 CyberHoist II
• 177 load cells
• 3,910m of truss
• 45 riggers

Broadcast
• 30 broadcast cameras, 19 of them as show broadcast cameras
• 11km of broadcast cables
• 60 people involved to handle broadcast
• 3 multi-camera cirectors
Cuepilot switcher programming
• 2 remote controlled dollies, one with 2 cameras and one with 1 camera
• 3 cranes, 1 2D system, and 2 Steadicams

Power
• 4.4 megawatts at full capacity
• 39km of power cables

Communication & Intercom
• 175 intercom panels
• 265 analog radios
• 205 Tetra radios
• 20km of signal fiber cables
• 1150 rechargeable battery sets

IT
• 4740kg IT Equipment
• 12,550m temporary fiber optic cable
• 177 network switches
• 4,248 network switch ports
• 242 Wi-Fi access points
• 112,749 of rows of code in the switches
• 8,000 Mbit/s Internet capacity

General
• It takes 42 days from load in to load out.
• Build up is 20 days long. Load out is only 72 hours.
• 11,500 spectators in the audience
• 3,000 shifts of stage hands 
• 250 trucks of gear
• 42 commentator boxes
• 37 forklifts, cherry pickers, and scissor lifts for the build up and load out
• 200km cable