Public service youth content on social media platforms: Reaching youth through YouTube

This chapter analyses public service content on third-party platforms and, more specifically, how legacy media organisations adapt to social media logic when creating content for youth. It builds on a production study of NRK 4ETG – the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s (NRK) YouTube programme – using elite interviews and document analysis as main methods. The chapter answers two research questions: First, what strategic function and rationale inform the programme and how does it fit NRK’s overall ambition to serve youth with public service content? Second, what industry logic guides the programme’s production and how is this logic different from the media logic guiding traditional youth television? The chapter contributes to existing scholarship by providing empirical evidence of producers’ self-perception concerning the creation of YouTube content within a public service context and argues that these programmes – while overtly differentiated from traditional public service offerings – serve important strategic functions by engaging young audiences and new content creators, both of which will be essential to public service media in the future. Challenges remain, however, primarily regarding how to expand public service value in new digital settings.