Each country's Jury awards one set of 12, 10, 8–1 points to ten songs as 50% of the votes, while Televote matches the result with another 50% of the points awarded percentage-wise proportionally.
Thirty-six countries will participate in the contest, with Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cuba participating for the first time. It was announced that Belgium, Ireland and Russia would not be taking part due to various reasons. While Russian membership was kept active, the Irish membership were frozen on-request, which makes it unlikely to see the country returning in the nearest future. Belgium however was suspended for this episode due to the breach of the rules.
After the victory in the previous edition in Hanoi, Vietnam at the 8th edition, Israel has received the rights to host the contest. Due to the hosting of Special Melody Q4-2024 in Haifa, the organization boarding committee and the Broadcaster had less venues to accept for the hosting. Bidding process was very quick and almost instant. On January 28, the competition organizers announced that Tel Aviv would host the competition in Israel.
Production
Ocean theme rendered flair for Q4-24 edition
Format
Two semi-finals has stayed with the same rules in this episode.
Semi-Final Allocation Draw
On February 14, the organizers of the contest presented the composition of the baskets for the draw. Thus, 30 countries were distributed into 6 countries in 5 baskets. This season, the distribution of the auto-finalist countries in the semi-finals was decided by voting: each country was assigned specific emojis (dolphin, starfish, yacht, sunglasses, palm tree, and chaise lounge). Based on the voting results, three auto-finalist countries were to receive voting places in the first semi-final, and the last three - in the second semi-final. The draw for the semi-finals was broadcast at 20:00 CET on 16 February.
On February 18, the order of performances in the semi-finals was presented, which was determined by the show’s organizers themselves.
Thirty-six countries have confirmed participation this season. Bosnia and Herzegovina and Cuba was set to participate for the very first time this edition. Belgium, San Marino and Russia has not appear in the final list of the participants broadcaster.
On February 9, it became known that Ireland would not be able to take part in this and the next few seasons of the competition. This reduced the number of participating countries to thirty-five. But a day later, San Marino confirmed their participation, which brought the total number back to thirty-six.
Semi-Final 1
The first semi-final took place on 23 February 2025. Fifteen countries took part in the first semi-final. Those countries along with Germany, Norway and Poland will vote and perform in this semi-final.
Each country had a televoting who awarded 12, 10, 8 - 1 point(s) to their top seven songs. All 15 countries competing in the first semi-final voted, alongside Germany, Norway and Poland. The ten qualifying countries were announced in no particular order, and the full results of how each country voted was published after the final had been held.
The second semi-final took place on 23 February 2025. Fifteen countries took part in the first semi-final. Those countries along with France, Israel and United Kingdom will vote and perform in this semi-final.
Each country had a televoting who awarded 12, 10, 8 - 1 point(s) to their top seven songs. All 15 countries competing in the first semi-final voted, alongside France, Israel and United Kingdom. The ten qualifying countries were announced in no particular order, and the full results of how each country voted was published after the final had been held.
Public voting representatives of participating countries
The viewers of the participating countries could be other members of the organization or other invited persons. Each competing participating country could invite up to two spectators.
Mark Solovyov
Nikolay Serb
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Cuba
Belgium
Ireland
Russia
Germany, 
Norway and 
Poland will vote and perform in this semi-final.
Netherlands
Sweden
United States
Serbia
Portugal
Japan
Switzerland
Vietnam
Kazakhstan
Italy
South Korea
Iceland
Brazil
Cyprus
France, 
United Kingdom will vote and perform in this semi-final.
North Macedonia
Azerbaijan
New Zealand
Albania
Armenia
San Marino
Croatia
Canada
Spain
Hungary
Thailand
Denmark
Lebanon
ROTW
TBA