The participation of Spain in the OTI Festival began at the first OTI Festival in 1972. The Spanish participating broadcaster was (TVE), subsidiary of (RTVE) and member of the (OTI). TVE participated in twenty-seven of the twenty-eight editions, only missing the 1986 festival as a protest against the military dictatorship of Chile. It won the festival six times: in 1976, 1981, 1992, 1993, 1995, and 1996; and it hosted the event also six times: in 1972, 1977, 1985, 1992, 1993, and 1994.
Although (TVE) selected their participants internally and didn't follow the tradition of national finals held by other countries, it almost always selected well-known names, most of whom would achieve strong results. It won the event on six occasions, in a tie for most wins with Mexico.
The first Spanish victory came in 1976 with "" by singer-songwriter . This protest song, which transmitted a deep feeling of sadness, was not one of the favourite ones to win the contest, in fact being among the least favoured entries in the betting odds.
In 1981, TVE achieved its second victory in the festival with "" by . This song became a great hit both in Spain and Latin America and contributed to launch the career of the singer internationally. Francisco won again the festival in 1992 with the song "". Since then, the singer started became known as the Latin Johnny Logan because of his two victories. One year later, "" by achieved the fourth Spanish victory in the festival. The last Spanish victories came with "" by Marcos Llunas in 1995, and "" by Anabel Russ in 1996.
TVE hosted the event six times: in 1972 and 1977 in Madrid; in 1985 in Seville; and in 1992, 1993, and 1994 in Valencia.
TVE was a member of the OTI and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), so it was eligible to participate in both the OTI Festival and the Eurovision Song Contest representing Spain. Several Spanish entrants in the OTI Festival later in the Eurovision Song Contest. The band Trigo Limpio which took part in the OTI Festival 1977 represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1980. Amaya Saizar, who was the vocalist of Trigo Limpio in the OTI Festival, competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 as member of the band Bravo. Marcos Llunas won the OTI Festival 1995, two years before representing Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1997.
Other artists such as the band tried to represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 1986, but two years after being rejected, they participated in the OTI Festival 1988 achieving 10th place.
In general, the Spanish Eurovision fans claimed that TVE seemed to be more interested in the OTI Festival than in the Eurovision Song Contest. They complained that TVE usually selected famous names for the OTI Festival, while the Spanish performers in Eurovision were unknown to much of the audience.