The three live shows were presented by Swedish comedian and television presenter Petra Mede , being the first time only one host had presented the show since the contest. Former Swedish entrant Eric Saade acted as the green room host in the final.
Thirty-nine countries participated in the contest, with Armenia returning after its one-year absence. Bosnia and Herzegovina , Portugal , Slovakia and Turkey all ceased their participation for various reasons. Slovakia and Turkey have yet to return to the contest since. The song had the highest average score in both the televote and jury vote. Azerbaijan , Ukraine , Norway and Russia rounded out the top five.
This year marked the reintroduction of the "Parade of Nations", a concept which was first used in the contest from to with the exception of before making a one-off return in The concept had also been used, on-and-off, in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest since It sees all countries performing in the final presenting themselves with their national flags before the contest begins.
This year, the contestants entered the main stage by walking across a bridge over the audience. This idea has subsequently continued in every edition of the contest onwards. SVT had expressed the desire to host the contest at a slightly smaller venue than previous years, as well as smaller environment which is easier to dedicate and decorate for other celebrations and festivities of the event within the host city.
The city's proximity to the borders with Denmark and Norway also spilled over into some of the producers' actions. Denmark was eventually allocated to compete in one semi-final and Norway in the other, taking into consideration the number of Danish and Norwegian fans who were likely to travel for the contest, with the arena being relatively small and thus not suitable for accommodating both countries' fans in one semi-final.
