HaKokhav HaBa (Hebrew: הַכּוֹכָב הַבָּא; transl. "The Next Star") is an Israeli interactive reality singing competition, created by Keshet Media Group and broadcast on Channel 2 (from 2013 to 2017) and on Channel 12 (since 2017). It is the basis of the Rising Star franchise. The show is a continuation of Kokhav Nolad (Hebrew: כוכב נולד; transl. "A Star Is Born") which featured aspiring singers competing for a winning title. The program's format combines the internet, smartphone and television and is filmed live. Between 2015 and 2020, the show was used to select Israel's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest; it is being used again for 2024.^[1]

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Quick Facts Rising Star, Hebrew ...

Rising Star
Hebrew	הכוכב הבא
Genre	Reality television
Created by	Asaf Spector Shenkar Yoav Tzafir Avi Nir
Developed by	Screenz Cross Media LTD
Presented by	Assi Azar Esti Ginzburg (season 1) Rotem Sela (season 2–)
Judges	Rita (season 1) Tzvika Hadar (season 1) Rani Rahav (season 1) Eyal Golan (first half season 1) Mooki (second half season 1–3) Asaf Atedgi (season 2–3) Harel Skaat (season 2–6) Static & Ben El Tavori (season 4–8) Keren Peles (season 2–) Assaf Amdursky (season 4–) Shiri Maimon (season 6–) Itay Levy (season 7–) Ninet Tayeb (season 8–9) Ran Danker (season 9–) Eden Hason (season 10–)
Theme music composer	Sylas McGriff
Country of origin	Israel
No. of seasons	10
Production
Running time	90–120 minutes
Production company	Keshet
Original release
Network	Channel 2 (2013–2017) Keshet 12 (2017–)
Release	17 September 2013 (2013-09-17) – present
Related
Kokhav Nolad

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As the season begins, each contestant is asked to perform a well-known song in front of judges. After the song, a vote is taken among judges whether to transfer the applicant to the test stage facing the audience at home. If the judges are not sure about how to vote, the contestant is required to perform another song, and then a decision is made.^{[citation needed]}

Contestants who do move forward must then sing in front of an audience. Viewers then connect with an app at makoTV and decide in real time whether a contestant passes or does not pass.^{[citation needed]}

Judges also influence the test stage - all judges may support the promotion of the contestant and thereby add 8% percent if there are five judges or 10% if there are four. Once the contestant reaches 70% of votes they "pass" and the screen opens and the contestant goes to the next level. 14 singers then move on to a section where the judges and the audience at home vote. At the final stage, four singers are left and one will be elected "The Next Star".^{[citation needed]}

Key:   Previous   Latest   Replaced

This season host is Assi Azar and the co-host is Esti Ginzburg. The judges are Rita, Zvika Hadar, Muki and Rani Rahav. Eyal Golan judged the program until his suspension on 20 November 2013, and after four days was replaced by Muki.^{[citation needed]}

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The winner of season two would represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015.^[2]

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This season was named "The Next Star to the Eurovision" The winner of season three would represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016.

The winner of season four would represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. The show is hosted by Yael Goldman joined by Assi Azar and Rotem Sela. The presiding judges are Keren Peles and Harel Skaat who were judges in the previous two seasons joined by new judges Assaf Amdursky and the duo Static and Ben El Tavori.

Israel participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 as the Israeli broadcaster Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (IPBC/Kan) for the first time collaborated with the commercial broadcaster Keshet and Tedy Productions which organized the reality singing competition HaKokhav HaBa L'Eurovizion ("The Next Star for Eurovision") to select the singer to represent Israel, while the song was chosen by a committee of the Israeli broadcaster. Four contestants reached the final, Chen Aharoni, Jonathan Mergui, Riki Ben Ari and Netta Barzilai. The season was won by Netta Barzilai, the first woman to win the series. As a result, she represented Israel at Eurovision Song Contest 2018. She went on to win the contest in Lisbon with the song "Toy" earning 529 points.

Kobi Marimi won the show with 383 points, beating runner-up Keteryah and third-placer Shefita. Kobi represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, held in Tel Aviv, with the song "Home".

Eden Alene emerged as the winner, however, the Eurovision contest for this year was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Alene was internally re-selected by Kan to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 instead.

For this season, the show is not used to select the Israeli representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 (The X Factor Israel received this honor instead). Instead, the grand prize for the winner is one million shekels for starting his career, similar to season 1. The cast of hosts and judges remained the same as the previous season, with Ninet Tayeb joining the judges as well.

In February 17, 2022, Static & Ben El Tavori retired from the show and Ran Danker replaced them. Season 9 began on July 18, 2022.

The tenth season featured a scaled-down format due to the Israel–Hamas war, which began before production on the show started. The winner was Eden Golan, who will represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024.

After the success of the Israeli series in 2013, many television stations throughout the world bought the rights and started broadcasting similar series.

The American television network ABC began airing its first series of Rising Star in June 2014 from Los Angeles.^[3] The US edition was also carried in Canada, with advertising simultaneous substitution and voting access on CTV.^[4] The show was canceled after its full 10-episode season due to low ratings in its target demographic, and extremely low ratings on the German and French versions.

Another major broadcaster RTL Television launched a German language version in Germany. But following reported poor ratings on its early shows, it announced it was bringing Rising Star Germany scheduled final forward airing an extended one-day finale between 20.15 and 00.00 to decide the winning performer, rather than completing the full 10-episode scheduled season originally planned.^[5]

The UK ITV channel bought the rights, but canceled its scheduled launch^[6] citing lower-than-expected viewership in similar launches in the United States and Germany. Canale 5 also bought the rights to an Italian version of the show, which was also canceled during development for unexplained reasons.

French television M6, with its first season, launched in September 2014 keeping the title Rising Star. The French version had a shortened season due to low ratings. The Italian television Canale 5 launched its version as Rising Star.

Other broadcasters that adapted the series include Argentine Telefe as Elegidos (La música en tus manos), Brazilian Rede Globo as SuperStar, Chinese CCTV-3, Greek ANT1 , Hungarian TV2 as Rising Star, Indonesian RCTI as Rising Star Indonesia (later, MNCTV as sister channel of RCTI make dangdut version of this show entitled Rising Star Indonesia Dangdut), Portuguese Televisão Independente (TVI) as Rising Star: A próxima estrela, Russia-1 as Артист (Artist), and Turkish TV8 as Yükselen Yıldız. The Russian version of the show had a shortened season due to low ratings on the French and German versions, while the Portuguese and Brazilian versions became quickly popular, but neither lasted more than three seasons; the Brazilian version ended in 2016 after three seasons due to declining viewership. The Indonesian version is the longest-running version of the show outside of Israel.

• Kokhav Nolad