On Sunday, the stage was again set for the season premiere of the Discovery program «71 degrees north – Norway’s toughest celebrity». The original version, ie the version without the celebrities, of the program has not been broadcast on TV since 2020.
This year’s participants include: Thomas Numme, Tshawe Baqwa, Silya Nymoen and Cecilia Brekkhus.
Sunday’s premiere was watched by a total of 314,000 viewers – 253,000 watched the program on TV Norway, and 61,000 watched it on the streaming service Discovery Plus.
view more
–
When the program aired in January, it gathered 463,000 viewers. At the time, the ratings were the third best premiere in the celebrity version of “71 degrees north”.
This year’s premiere gathered a total of 314,000 viewers. This is a drop of almost 150,000 viewers.
Campaigns mentioned this year’s viewership first.
Four words can cost 43 million
– Takes up through the week
Discovery’s communications director, Hanne McBride, says that the 2020 season of “71 degrees north” had very high ratings, and that it takes a lot to top them. She also says that new viewing habits make the premiere numbers subordinate, because there will be more viewers during the week.
– I will not be surprised if the total viewing of this week’s premiere lands closer to last year’s than it seems so far, McBride says to Dagbladet.
She is also very pleased that “71 degrees north” is still on the screen – 21 years after the premiere. According to McBride, the program is one of the world’s longest-lived reality concepts
– The 71 format is one of TVNorge’s biggest successes, and set new viewer records as late as 2020, 21 years after the premiere on the same channel in 1999, says McBride.
– Successful concept
TV manager at the media agency Mediacom, Marianne Massaiu, also believes that “71 degrees north” will have higher viewership throughout the season.
“71 degrees north” has for many years been a successful concept for Discovery. And I would say it still is. As always, it is exciting to see if the program increases throughout the season, and how many it gathers digitally, Massaiu tells Dagbladet.
She thinks Discovery is happy with the viewership so far.
– The proportion who stream this type of program is generally increasing. Just like it is for streaming overall. So Discovery is probably very happy with the total numbers so far.
view more
–
– Stepped in his own poop
New concept
In early September, Dagbladet wrote that there will be a new season of «71 degrees north». A season that will be a little different from what viewers know from before.
In the «71 degrees north – team», four couples with celebrities will fight their way through tough trials in Norwegian nature, by completing a continuous route.
– We are already in the process of producing next spring’s program, which will be an innovation within the «71 ° north» universe. The teams compete against each other on time, and the two celebrities who can withstand the most and collaborate best, and thus only reach the very last checkpoint, win, says McBride.
Among the season’s celebrity couples are host Jon Almaas (54) and comedian Adam Schjølberg (39), and influencers Vita (29) and Wanda (29) Mashadi. Training influences Victoria Tolaas (21) teams up with a YouTube profile and podcaster Safari Shabani (24), and former skier Thomas Alsgaard (49) fights in teams with journalist and adventurer Elisa Røtterud (42).
Make a “71 degrees north” comeback
Battle plan
This season, host Jon Almaas returns to the “71 degrees north” universe, after running away with the victory two years ago in the program’s celebrity version.
He nevertheless told Dagbladet earlier this month that things did not go completely smoothly at the time, but that this year he has a battle plan to bring home his second victory.
