By Ib Keld Jensen
At this point, observant readers may ask themselves: Haven’t I read this piece of news before? And there is a good reason for any feeling of déjà vu: for the fourth year in a row, we can announce that the Nordvision partnership has broken its own record. Delivering 5,102 programme episodes in 2017, this easily beats the previous year’s record of 4,911. The Nordic media collaboration continues to progress and prosper all across the region. A major factor in achieving this new record is the exceptional number of Nordic co-productions. An all-time high of 2,279 programme episodes puts this 40 percent above the figure for Nordic co-productions in any previous years.
Exceeds all expectations
In addition to the 5,102 programme episodes – which include co-productions as well as programme exchanges – Nordvision also runs a daily news exchange among its partners. In 2017, this reached a total of around 3,830 items covering Nordic news as well as programme exchanges to the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
“The number of co-productions exceeds all expectations, not least when we consider that all the Nordic public service TV stations are undergoing a digital transformation, and the fact that all of these broadcasters are outsourcing more and more TV production work to external production companies,” says Henrik Hartmann, Secretary General at Nordvision.
Less focus on volume
While similarly pleased to be looking back at another record year, the Chair of Nordvision and director at Swedish Yle, Marit af Björkesten warns against getting carried away.
“We should be delighted about this incredibly high figure as long as it lasts. We are all aware that the Nordic public service media will be focusing more on fewer, but larger and more important public service tasks in the coming year, and of course this will have an effect on our collaboration,” she explains.
Henrik Hartmann predicts that the collaboration will evolve towards a more digital and strategy-based focus in the coming years. “We have already seen how in 2017 the Nordvision partnership succeeded in creating a new vision for Nordic drama. I believe that we will be seeing more of this in future, for instance in content areas such as Children, Youth & Young adults and Investigative journalism.”
While the collaboration is in its strongest position to date, 2017 did see a small decrease in the number of Nordvision programme exchanges, but this was fully offset by the increase in co-productions.
More information can be provided by The Nordvision Secretariat in Copenhagen:Henrik Hartmann, hrh(AT)dr.dk, +4524248305, www.www.nordvision.org
The Nordvision partnership cooperates to strengthen Public Service Media in the Nordic region. The partners co-produce, exchange programmes, co-develop formats and share knowledge, generating more than 5,000 TV programmes annually. The partners are DR (Denmark), NRK (Norway), SVT (Sweden), Yle (Finland), and RUV (Iceland), and 4 associated partners: KNR (Greenland), KVF (Faroe Islands), UR (Sweden) and Sveriges Radio (SR, Sweden).
