Nordic Forum, 20080602 Give escapism a chance

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Nordic Forum, 2008-06-02Give escapism a chance

• Swedish Television, SVT
• Martin Österdahl, Commissioning Editor

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SVT Entertainment Mission

• Status in popularity
• 81 av top 100 rated shows in Sweden 2006 were
  SVT.
• 7 of Top 10 were SVT entertainment titles
• Status in recognition of quality
• SVT entertainment titles such as På Spåret, Så
  Skall det låta and Melodifestivalen all recently
  won major TV awards selected by the public and by
  industry professionals

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Comments on literature

• High reach vs distinctiveness
• (paternalistic) No-no-no vs anything goes
• Instrumentalist approach
• UTOPIA (aspirational)
• ? Importance of redefenition of Entertainment
  role

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Additional aspects

• Entertainment is popular culture is the nations
  young soul
• We take responsibility for pop culture and take
  pop culture seriously
• PSM invests in innovation of domestic pop culture
• Becomes favourites and classics
• Part of our history and folklore
• We have an abundance of examples that started as
  light entertainment TV and is now considered
  national cultural treasures, from comedy shows to
  musical performances.

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For SVT values include

• 1. Support of domestic creativity
• Investment in local/domestic production (locally
  commissioned entertainment)
• Investment in and development of domestic ideas
• Boldness (as compared to commercial actors) to
  commission new, unshown programmes (without proof
  of concept)
• 2. Social cohesion
• Multicultural/minorities
• The elderly and the young
• 3. Different from the commercial
• Not necessarily in content/topics but in
  structure (content not affected by commerscial
  interests) and tonality (higher standards)

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Overall contribution

• The main arguments are the same as for public
  service itself, social cohesion togetherness -
  is vital to sustain democracy
• In a society that is ever more individualistic,
  there is soon no moure us
• The state church. An old monopoly, with financial
  problems and no appeal to the young
• Strong public service and strong entertainment
  programming can create a feeling of togetherness
• It can cross over age groups
• Is multicultural and includes minorities
• It can build us

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Building us camp fire tv

• More than a TV show
• The illusion of togetherness - in real time
• High impact - gather many and create long term
  loyalty
• Profile building for the broadcaster
• Unmissable
• Creates debate and discussion it is ok to
  irritate!
• You must have an opinion (to be a part of the
  community)

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Current strategy and planning

• Purpose and role in current channel strategy
  SVT1 and SVT2
• Mix of studio based music entertainment and more
  event based happenings
• Mix of new talent and established stars
• Mix of scripted and non scripted
• Mix of long tail and no tail
• 360 and bonus material and spec web commissioned
• Plan to enable spontaneity and flexibility
  (Palokangas capture and react to sociocultural
  phenomenain a evolving environment continually
  under construction.)

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Succesful programming examples

• Melodifestivalen and ESC
• Uggla Var fan är mitt band
• Grotesco and Mia Klara
• Doobidoo
• Sveriges Bästa Dansband domestic cultural
  phenomena in a modern presentation. True to
  grassroot culture, without irony and definitively
  Swedish and could only work in a Public Service
  frame.