Last weekend’s “Maskorama” semifinal was the show’s least-watched episode to date. This year’s season is now set to become the first to average fewer than 1 million viewers.
- This year’s Mascorama semi-final had 766,000 viewers, and is the least-watched episode of the program so far.
- The fourth season of NRK’s hit will likely be the first to average fewer than a million viewers.
- However, NRK takes a positive view of the situation and focuses, among other things, on sharing in social media and on the NRK website.
- A media analyst at NRK confirms that the decline is considered small compared to general changes in media habits.
- The “Maskorama” project editor believes that more people are watching the series than the numbers show, as the number of viewers under 10 years old is not measured.
This year’s “Maskorama” finals will take place on Saturday evening. Perhaps one of the most popular television events of the fall.
However, the government channel’s figures suggest that the glory days of the concept may be over.
The semi-final match on 7 December was attended by 766,000 viewers, which is usually an encouraging number in almost any Norwegian television context.
At the same time, the episode had more than 100,000 fewer viewers than what had until then been “Maskorama’s” least popular episode — last year’s season semifinals, which had 874,000 viewers.
According to NRK, “Maskorama” averaged the following numbers for its first three seasons, including digital viewing after one month:
- 2020: 1.14 million
- 2021: 1.23 million
- 2022: 1.03 million
The fourth and current season is averaging 919,000 at the time of writing. Based on previous seasons, there is reason to expect the final to raise the average.
But for the 2023 season to average more than 1 million, the finale would have to get close to the show’s record — which was 1.4 million for the season 1 finale.
– Happy “dark numbers”.
However, from Marienlyst, there are no reports of a bad mood surrounding the decline in numbers.
– “Maskorama” is a solid linear format, and despite some regression, there are a few things that go right. After all, the decline is small compared to overall changes in media habits, Emil Yildirim, a media analyst at NRK Analyse, wrote in an email to VG.
NRK’s ”Maskorama” project editor, Jan Egil Aadland, believes the current season is “another strong season” – and points out that there are likely more people watching than the numbers say:
– Official TV figures measure usage among ages 10-79, but we know usage is also very high among under-10s. So there are very happy “dark personalities,” Aadland wrote in an email.
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Moreover, the government channel is happy to participate on social media and on the NRK website.
Ådland points out that NRK received nearly three million guesses in the digital guessing game “Maskorama.”
VG wonders if it’s NRK’s concern that much of the online reaction around the first two episodes seems to be establishing “facts” about who’s behind the masks.
Some of these names are also repeated in the broadcasts.
-We really encourage people to dive into the puzzles and discuss theories. Editor answers: This is part of the fun of Mascorama, and it increases engagement.
– Although many think they have solved the mysteries, it is only when the mask comes off that you can get the answer to who is hiding underneath. Half of those who guessed still haven’t guessed who’s hiding behind the masks.
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