TikTok has been announced the ‘Official Entertainment Partner’ of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) made the announcement earlier today (April 14), placing the video-focused social networking service’s global community of one billion at the heart of Eurovision 2022.

“We’re delighted to be making TikTok the Official Entertainment Partner of the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest, working closely to create even more exclusive and engaging content,” Martin Österdahl, executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest said in a statement.

“The TikTok community really embraced the Eurovision Song Contest last year and now we’re looking forward to giving them unprecedented access to the world’s largest live music event and inspiring a whole new generation of fans.”

As ‘Official Entertainment Partner’ of Eurovision 2022, TikTok will celebrate the music, the artists, the countries and the history and the event itself, through a specially created programming, music playlists and behind-the-scenes content.

Eurovision’s semi-final shows and the Grand Final will be available to stream via the official Eurovision TikTok account, in a unique vertical format that combines the official broadcast with a backstage view of the contest, while the live performances take place.

The TikTok community will also have exclusive access to backstage content from all the participating artists’ first rehearsals.

Elsewhere, playlists featuring the event’s participants will live on TikTok’s Sound Pages, allowing users to create and share their own videos, “bringing the music of the contest to life in a way that only the TikTok community can make happen”.

Eurovision’s TikTok account will also feature exclusive daily content throughout the contest, including a daily highlights video as well as behind the scenes action as the contest takes over Turin.

TikTok has amassed 3.7billion views on #Eurovision videos to date, with over 1.4billion video views on the hashtag #Eurovision2021 last year alone.

Meanwhile, Russia has been banned from competing in this year’s competition following backlash to an earlier statement from organisers saying the country would be allowed to compete despite launching a military assault on Ukraine.

The Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra have become the bookies’ favourites to win this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

Eurovision 2022 will take place at the PalaOlimpico in Turin, Italy, with the Grand Final set for May 14. Last year’s Eurovision was won by the Italian band Måneskin.