Scandinavia’s pubcasters SVT and NRK are experimenting with scripted format to reach teen viewers where they are: online.

While NRK Super’s Skam (Shame) has already reached viral status in Norway, SVT Play launched its own scripted web show #Hashtag (pictured) on Tuesday.  Produced by Zentropa Sweden’s Lizette Jonjic for SVT Play with support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the 8x15’ series #Hashtag was written by Lovisa Löwhagen and Jessika Jankert and directed by Anders Hazelius (Guerilla). Although entirely fictitious, the series gets its inspiration from the Instagram riots that took place in Gothenburg in 2012, whereby an anonymous Instagram account ended up having dramatic consequences for its creators (two young girls were sentenced) and for the victims, creating at the same time riots across the city. 

“The series is about friendship, loyalty, youngsters’ need to be ‘seen’, but most of all about the impact of social media, says Lizette Jonjic. Targeting the 13-19 year olds, the show’s 10 to 15 minute episodes are meant to be watched by teens on the go, on their various mobile devices.

Prior to the premiere on Tuesday, #Hashtagwas promoted heavily on social media and famous local Youtubers were invited to spread the word on their channel. One of the actresses -Emma Söderström- a professional blogger also created her own buzz.

Yesterday two days after the airing of the two first episodes, SVT’s press officer Jan-Erik Westman said that although it was still ‘too early to draw any conclusions on the ratings’, the first 15.000 views were almost equal to the first day ratings of SVT’s successful web show Portkod 1321 from 2012.  Besides SVT, #Hashtag is set to air on YLE’s web platform.

Skam
Targeting a narrowing youth segment group: 16-19 years-old with a female skew, Skam was created by Julie Andem and produced by NRK Super. The show runs daily online and weekly as a webcast and each week a summary with all episodes is available on browsers and linear TV. The scripted web format focusing on a group of teen girls, takes place in real life and is published through web-specific storytelling elements via text, images, grabs, and live action scenes. “Basically it’s a story about being young, about love, friendship, finding the strength to create your own boundaries and not being ashamed of who you are. It’s a universal story,” said NRK Super Head of Project Marianne Furevold-Boland.

NRK Super’s strategy not to over promote the series but let youngsters ‘take ownership’ of it and create their own buzz via social media was the right decision as Season 1 launched in October 2015 immediately hit the roof and became a viral phenomenon.
Watched at 84% on the web, the 11-part series averaged 242.000 viewers, making it NRK’s most watched online series.

Season 2 kick started in March and after a few days around 80.000 people had watched it online and another 20.000 on linear TV and daily figures keep climbing. A third season will follow. Besides the viewings success, Skam has achieved critical success and is nominated for no less than six national Gullruten TV awards 2016, including Best TV Drama, Best New Program Series and Best New Idea and Innovation of the Year. Betafilm handles world sales.