NRK’s (the Norwegian state-owned broadcaster) live coverage of a Hurtigurten voyage on the Nordnorge went viral earlier this week.

The live TV show – on NRK2 in Norway – and streamed globally on the NRK website, peaked at 2.5 million viewers in Norway, which is half the countries population. That is a TV share that would rival the United States’ Super Bowl broadcast.

Hundreds of thousands of viewers globally tuned in on the internet as discussions on Twitter and Facebook made the broadcast go viral.

Media reports indicate that NRK did the five-day live broadcast from the ship at its own expense.

Production featured various cameras (11 in total) around the ship, on the bridge, on the hull, and local camera crews welcoming the ship in some ports.

At times, NRK had a smaller vessel following the Nordnorge to provide thrilling views.

NRK said it had a 22-person TV crew onboard.

The broadcast went beyond viral in Norway, with entire communities welcoming the ship and Norwegian citizens waving flags from smaller boats, their homes, Coast Guard vessels, drilling platforms and more.

The Norwegian Air Force participated by performing a low-to-the-water fly-by with F-16s on the 691-passenger vessel.

As the voyage ended, Queen Sonja welcomed the ship into the final turnaround port, Kirkenes.

The entire broadcast is still viewable, by clicking here. It can easily by synced to various ports of call or segments of the itinerary by clicking on the embedded Google Map.