Which countries are taking part, and which ones aren't?

Bhutan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam.

All 11 acts have been chosen, including some who are already big names at home, including Vietnam's Tóc Tiên and Malaysia's Aina Abdul.

Negotiations with China and Japan ran past the production deadline, according to the show's executive producer, Assaf Blecher, who says he is "very, very optimistic" both will take part next year.

Will the format be the same as the European Eurovision?

The format essentially follows the European original. Each country sends one act, performing live, for a maximum of three minutes and with up to six performers on stage. Blecher says the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which owns Eurovision, approves every song and lyric, and that political songs are barred in the same way as in Europe.

National juries score a dress rehearsal the night before, and the public votes on the night. Viewers in the competing countries can vote, but not for their own country, and votes from everywhere else are pooled into a 12th territory.

Voting is through a QR code or the website, with eight free votes per viewer, which must be spread across at least three songs. A further 10 votes can be bought at prices that vary by country.

The final will be streamed on Eurovision's YouTube channel and is carried by a broadcast network in each competing country. The winner receives a trophy and no prize money.

One key difference is that the winner will not automatically gain hosting rights, at least at first, on the grounds that smaller countries lack the infrastructure.

In terms of which flags will be allowed in the arena, a question that has repeatedly caused rows in Europe, spectators may bring one each, subject to Thai law, while delegations may carry only their own national flag on stage and in the flag parade.

Will neighbours vote for each other?

Bloc voting, where countries award high scores to their neighbours, is a long-running tradition in Europe. Blecher says it is too early to know whether Asia will follow suit, while Dave Goodman, the EBU's head of communications for the contest, says viewers will be encouraged to spread their votes across several countries.

Mutual support could come from Himalayan neighbours Nepal and Bhutan, while close linguistic and cultural ties exist between south-east Asian nations such as Thailand and Laos.

However, host Thailand may not want to rely on votes from neighbouring Cambodia, given the recent fighting on their shared border where a territorial dispute remains unresolved. The EBU rule barring winners in conflict from hosting does not apply in Asia, Goodman says, because hosting does not pass to the winner.

While other tensions in the region exist - such as water security along the Mekong River and overlapping claims in the South China Sea between Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines - they are not open hostilities and unlikely to affect voting.

Will the show still retain Eurovision's camp overtones?

It is not yet clear whether Asia will fully embrace all the traditions of its European predecessor. Blecher feels it may not yet be the same "full campy" experience as this year's competition in Europe but noted that the latter had evolved over 70 years

Bettina Miski, a PR expert who runs a YouTube series connecting Asian artists with global audiences, says it's not certain the contest's queer culture will automatically transfer.

"While the host country, Thailand, has marriage equality and globally visible queer media, we have to keep in mind all the other countries, with potentially more restrictive media, where it will be on air," she says. Malaysia and Bangladesh, for example, are both competing but criminalise same-sex relations.

Why is this happening now?

This is not the first attempt to export the format. The American Song Contest, in which US states competed rather than countries, ran for one series in 2022 and was not renewed.

Goodman says: "One of the reasons for doing the format … in other territories is also, yes, to make sure that we can keep the Eurovision song contest, the original one, sustainable for the future."

Reports of budget cuts and production changes in October prompted organisers to release a public statement reaffirming the contest would go ahead as planned.