In only three years, Verdens Gang’s WebTV show Blåkkbøster (BB) has established itself as one of the country’s largest current affairs programmes within the film and TV series segment.

It has quickly become Norway’s most watched show, delivering news about films and TV shows in addition to exclusive interviews with actors, directors, producers, and other involved parties.

Taking users seriously

The hypothesis behind the concept was that it must be possible to create a space for film and series-related material based in a large media house that will attract the masses without being anchored in the classic celebrity gossip genre.

The field has tended to land in the bucket where the focus is most often actors’ private sphere and not their professional careers. The idea with BB is to take those interested in films and TV shows seriously and distribute content with film-related substance. This can also be tweaked in a tabloid manner and deliver great user traffic to VG.no as well.

The studio production itself is set in front of a green screen wall, where you can easily change the background in post-production to the mood or film/series that suits the episode in question. With Kristoffer Hivju, we experimented with interviews in front of a green screen.

One-man show

Blåkkbøster is a one-man show. It’s one video journalist who developed the concept and runs it from day to day. Everything from coming up with ideas, recording the studio pieces and interviews, hosting the show, editing every episode, and coming up with titles and pictures for VG.no is carried out by only one resource.

A lot of time has been spent on creating a visual framework that can be quickly put to use, which means Blåkkbøster now functions as an effective platform for breaking news within the world of film and series.

For example, the show broadcasts casting news, premiere dates, and trailer releases for big shows and movies. And in 2023, each episode has been edited in the vertical format, tailor-made for mobile phones and big screens out in the public in Norway. Today these are on VG.no, VG’s Snapchat channel, and JcDecaux’s screens around Oslo, ferries, train stations, and the airport train.

The fact the entire process is owned by one person probably makes it Norway’s, and possibly the world’s, most resource-efficient Web TV concept.

Through thorough work with source networks, BB has quickly earned a position to obtain the very largest interviews in the world of entertainment, both nationally and abroad.

Star-studded interviews

In the last six months alone, the programme has had exclusive interviews with the likes of Sylvester Stallone, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Aniston, Adam Sandler, Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Ryan Reynolds, Margot Robbie, Jennifer Lopez, Benedict Cumberbatch, and many more people.

That’s not too shabby for a Norwegian-based concept.

In the last 50 features, BB’s programme has averaged just above 100,000 unique views per episode, with individual numbers reaching 200,000 to 400,000 views.

It is on a par with other popular online concepts with far greater resources at their disposal, such as Harm og Hegseth and Spårtsklubben on VGTV.

Much of the work lies in managing to find the tantalising entrances to this type of niche material. The figures show that BB has largely succeeded.

Niche journalism and new insights

In record time, Blåkkbøster has taken a relatively low-priority area in entertainment journalism in Norway and proved that there is life made for niche journalism in the country’s largest tabloid newspaper. Through interviews and exclusive clips, the focus is on the work behind the spectacular scenes. Actors and directors talk professionally.

Blåkkbøster stories provides completely new insight into the films or shows enthusiasts are looking forward to. Blåkkbøster has given VG a new content universe for a new target group.

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