During the CineLink Talks held on 19 August at the Sarajevo Film Festival, “Culture on Screen: What Are We Not Measuring?” was held in partnership with the Council of Europe’s Pilot Programme for Series Co-Productions. The panel brought together Johanna Gårdare, head of Drama and Film at SVT (Sweden); Marianne Furevold-Boland, head of Drama at NRK (Norway); Alex Traila, programme manager for series co-productions at the Council of Europe (France); Amra Bakšić Čamo, producer at pro.ba (Bosnia and Herzegovina); and Mikael Fellenius, CEO of Film i Väst (Sweden). The discussion was moderated by Lorenzo Biferale, head of Research at KEA European Affairs (Italy).

Starting off with some examples, Traila focused on Puberty – Secrets, Lies, and Human Castles, a Spanish-Belgian co-production about teenage violence and grooming, which became a social phenomenon after airing on HBO Max. Things took a very interesting turn for the series once it was broadcast, as secondary schools across Spain began requesting screenings and discussions with the creators, using the show to explore and discuss the realities and issues affecting young people in their schools, thus creating far more demand than the team could meet. According to the programme manager, this raises a broader question: how should social and cultural impact be measured as a form of success, beyond financial return?

Fellenius then entered the discussion by trying to answer this very difficult question: “We measure ratings, streams, audience reach, exports and awards. These indicators are useful, but they do not capture everything that film and TV generate in society. So, a television series may sometimes reach a relatively small audience and still have a significant cultural impact. It may make an overlooked experience visible, challenge an established historical narrative or open up a conversation. In other words, a series can fail as a piece of content but succeed as a piece of culture. Measurement is also never neutral. Every metric contains a theory of value. When we decide what to measure, we also decide what deserves attention and resources.

“We need to look beyond reach and consider representation, resonance, public debate and long-term impact. KPIs [key performance indicators] and OKRs [objectives and key results] should be tools for learning, not just compliance. Measurement matters for public accountability, but incomplete indicators can create a false sense of it. So, finally, we should continue to measure audiences, for sure, as well as revenues and reach. But we must stop confusing what is visible in the data with what is valuable in society. Our task is not to make culture fit the dashboard; our task is to ensure that every form of evaluation serves its true purpose: to protect, reload and strengthen the public value of culture,” he continued.

Gårdare also joined in the discussion: “We do try to measure impact through debate, social-media mentions and online attention, but numbers alone don’t tell us whether the impact is good or bad. They can provide useful data, such as how often a series is mentioned or discussed, but that doesn’t necessarily indicate whether the impact is positive or negative. The real value is in using the data to understand audiences, their needs and who we may not be reaching.”

Bakšić Čamo then talked about the difficulty of applying the same rules to all countries, when their backgrounds are different: “I come from a region where there is often very little to measure. Bosnia can be seen as a laboratory: after the war, TV production briefly grew, with several series achieving international and regional success. I produced some of them and initially focused too much on online hate, which affected me deeply. It’s very difficult from the position of countries that have steady production and established series traditions. We all know what Nordic TV series mean. When I say I produce Bosnian crime, there are no expectations. You don’t anticipate anything. And regretfully, neither did we. For me, this was the biggest, but perhaps not the most obvious, unmeasurable aspect. If I had the chance to advocate for continuing to produce, this is what I would advocate for.”

As the end of the event approached, Furevold-Boland emphasised the importance of creating content that feels relevant and authentic, and which can remain meaningful over time. She pointed to Skam as an example: ten years after its creation in Norway, the series continues to reach new audiences and inspire remakes in other countries. Its universal story of young people and what it means to be human transcends culture and background, highlighting the value of continuing to strive for authentic, universally resonant storytelling.

On the same topic, Traila noted: “Co-production is our core business, and as a cultural fund, our mission is to support diversity – linguistic, thematic, generic and cultural. We’re seeing more projects being made in their own languages, rather than defaulting to English, which can strengthen cultural authenticity and help export stories internationally. But what comes to us also reflects the market. When buyers are more conservative, projects tend to be safer and less provocative.”

Finally, Gårdare also argued that the most local series often have the greatest potential to travel because audiences want to be surprised and see something genuine. When developing content, the team therefore focuses on combining universal themes that many can relate to with a distinctly local setting and perspective.