NRK’s Online Strategy For Audience To ‘Discover’ Its Shame

Skam (Shame) averaged 204,000 viewers episodes for its first season, yet the majority were online. This trend has continued with season two which premiered March 4th, and has already delivered over 80,000 online viewers.

Skam follows Eva and her friends at Hartvig Nissen School in Oslo as they navigate their way through teenage life. It is an experimental concept where viewers can follow the characters and their lives through clips and photos on their social media accounts, which are then combined to form an episode at the end of each week.

Before the premiere of the first season the series received little attention from the media. Promotion was primarily through its own website and social media, but that was a deliberate strategy to reach out to the show’s demographic.

Håkon Moslet, Editorial Director for NRK P3, said: “We wanted the target audience to discover the series itself. When they discover it themselves they feel more like they own the series.”

“It’s the cheapest viewer success that NRK has ever had… and I don’t think that 16-year-olds have ever received so much from the license fee.”

Despite the success of the show, few know who the young actors really are. NRK has chosen to shield them from the media and said that they are unavailable for interview.

“The actors are very young, and I think it’s nice that they are sheltered a little,” says Moslet. “We want them to live their lives and be normal youngsters.”

Skam can be viewed online here.