[7][8] By 25 November 2023, these were narrowed down to 32, who were assessed by a 20-member international jury – consisting of previous jurors for their countries at Eurovision, whose names will be revealed later – to select a maximum of ten finalists by the end on the year.

[13] Alongside this process, NDR launched a separate competition to determine an additional finalist, titled Ich will zum ESC!

was a format developed by NDR and Hessischer Rundfunk (HR) to select one finalist for Eurovision Song Contest – Das deutsche Finale 2024.

It consisted of five pre-recorded episodes, premiering on ARD Mediathek between 25 January and 1 February 2024 (later airing on Das Erste), and a live final, held on 8 February 2024 at the Kreuzberg Festival Hall in Berlin and hosted by Laura Karasek (airing on NDR Fernsehen and Das Erste).

It saw fifteen artists being coached by Conchita Wurst (2014 Austrian representative and overall winner) and Rea Garvey, who in each episode chose which participants would move on to the next stage, with three qualifying for the final.

The international jury was composed of one panel for each of eight different countries, namely Austria, Croatia, Iceland, Lithuania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

[29] Shortly after the national final, it was announced that "Always on the Run" would undergo a minor lyrical change in accordance with the contest's regulations prohibiting vulgar language.

As a member of the "Big Five", Germany automatically qualifies to compete in the final on 11 May 2024, but is also required to broadcast and vote in one of the two semi-finals.

[44] In a joint meeting held in Munich in September 2023, ARD and German-language broadcasters ORF for Austria and SRF for Switzerland renewed their plans to cooperate on the broadcast of Eurovision-themed programmes ESC – Der Countdown and ESC – Die Aftershow in 2024, as they did for the 2023 contest;[45][46] the shows were hosted by Barbara Schöneberger.

[47] In addition, as part of the Eurovision programming, ARD through its station WDR cooperated with DR and SVT alongside other EBU member broadcasters – namely the BBC, ČT, ERR, France Télévisions, NRK, NTR, RÚV, VRT and Yle – to produce and air a documentary titled ABBA – Against the Odds, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Sweden's first victory at the contest with "Waterloo" by ABBA.

[50] His performance of "Always on the Run" at the contest was directed by Dan Shipton[51] and saw four dancers joining him in stage as well as the usage of pyrotechnics.

Over the course of the contest, Germany awarded its 12 points to Croatia in the first semi-final, and to Sweden (jury) and Israel (televote) in the final.

Each participating broadcaster assembles a five-member jury panel consisting of music industry professionals who are citizens of the country they represent.