Newsletter May 23: Commercial audiences below 100 min viewing already 2018?

23 May 2018

Mediavision has earlier pointed at the significant downturn in broadcast TV viewing in the Nordics. In Q1 2018, viewing dropped between -1% to -13% in the Nordic countries. On the other hand, growth in both AVOD and SVOD viewing is strong.

Focusing on Sweden, 2017 may well be the tipping point for traditional broadcast TV, as viewing decreased in all major target groups, including 60+. 2018 shows no signs of change, rather the opposite with an accelerated drop in comparison to the full year 2017.

This is of course troubling for some, especially considering that 2018 includes major live TV events such as the Olympics. Unless the FIFA World Cup in soccer (June-July) changes the downward path, the trend is expected to continue.

Based on that assumption, viewing in one of the major TV audiences, 12-59 year olds’, will fall below 100 minutes this year. But the largest decline is expected among the youngest viewers (15-24), -18%; dropping below 30 minutes of daily viewing. Additional insights on consumer transformation are offered in our recently released analysis TV Insight.

Sweden: Viewing time, consolidated viewing

However, despite the strong transformation to digital, events such as sports and Melodifestivalen is without doubt still big on broadcast TV. The 2018 ice hockey world championship, broadcasted on TV3 on Sunday, gathered +2 million viewers (3-99 y/o) in Sweden, or a share of viewing of 64%. This is practically unchanged compared to last year’s finals (then on TV4). And this year’s finals attracted a significantly larger share of young viewers (15-24 y/o +67% YOY). The massive viewership over the last two years is of course explained by Sweden playing in the finals, which was not the case 2016 (finals between Finland and Canada gathered roughly 800.000 viewers in Sweden).

Another interesting development taking place in the Nordics is the introduction of Youtube’s Spotify contender, Youtube Music, which is to be launched across the Nordics in the coming weeks. The launch of Youtube Music may possible be a real challenger to Spotify, read more on our blog.

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Mediavision blogs:

Youtube Music to increase competition among music streaming services
Youtube just announced the release of its Spotify contender, Youtube Music. The service is coming to the Nordic countries in the coming weeks. To illustrate the potential threat this poses to existing music streaming services we have provided an example […].

Mediavision press releases:

Nordic SVOD market at all-time high
The Nordic SVOD (subscription video-on-demand) market is growing rapidly and 45% of the Nordic households now have at least one SVOD service. According to purchase plans, the SVOD market is still far from saturated. Within a year, half of all Nordic households is expected to have at least one paid streaming service.

Industry news:

Netflix partners with the Obamas
Netflix have entered into a multi-year agreement with Michelle and Barack Obama to produce films and series with Netflix. The Obamas have established Higher Ground Productions as the entity under which they will produce content.

Fortnite to receive $100M in prize money
The game studio behind the widely successful game Fortnite announced its plans to support Fortnite e-sports. Epic Games will provide $100M in prize money for competitions during the 2018-2019 season.

Sony to acquire EMI Music Publishing
Sony has announced a deal to acquire EMI Music Publishing for $1.9bn. The deal adds a catalogue of over two million songs, including the likes of Queen and Pharrell Williams, to Sony’s already vast catalogue of music.

Mr Green & Gamingzone join forces
Mr Green and Gamingzone entertainment have launched a joint e-sports venture aimed at an e-sports audience. The new company, which is yet to receive a name, is co-owned by Mr Green and Gamingzone Entertainment.

Royal Wedding most watched event of 2018
The royal wedding between Meghan Markle and Prince Harry attained a viewership of nearly 18 million in the UK. BBC’s coverage attracted over 13 million viewers, making it the most watched TV event this year by far.

TV2 Norway and Telenor in disagreement
TV2 and Telenor are in a disagreement regarding pricing of TV2’s channels being distributed through Telenor’s network. Their current deal runs out June 1st, if they are unable to reach an agreement by then, up to one million Norwegian households could be affected.

Mediavision in the news

Here’s why the Nordics have Europe’s biggest appetite for Netflix and chill
The Nordic countries have a huge appetite for Netflix and chill – the biggest in Europe, in fact. A whopping 45 percent of the households in the Nordics (bar Iceland) currently subscribe to a streaming […].

Nordiska streamingmarknaden växer kraftigt – når toppnotering
Norden, följt av Storbritanien, har högst andel prenumeranter när det kommer till betalda streamingtjänster i hushållet. Mediavision har i en ny undersökning sett en toppnotering av antalet […].

Analyse: Streamingmarkedet i Norden er på sit højeste nogensinde
Næsten halvdelen af husstandene i Norden betaler i dag for mindst én streamingtjeneste, og væksten fortsætter. Det er især de lokale, nordiske tjenester, som vinder frem, lyder det […].

Nordic SVOD market at ‘all-time high’
Despite the arrivals of global SVOD giants in its territory, the Nordic subscription video-on-demand market is growing rapidly and 45% of the Nordic households now have at least one SVOD service says research from Mediavision.

E-sporten startar elitserie i ”Counter-Strike” i höst
I höst startar elitserien i e-sport. Det blir den första stora svenska seriesatsningen för datorspelare. Bakom initiativet står e-sportstjärnorna ”HeatoN” och ”Potti”.

Undersøkelse: Netflix mister markedsandeler i Norden
45 prosent av nordiske hushold abonnerer på minst en tjeneste betalt strømmetjeneste, viser en ny analyse av svenske Mediavision. I løpet av det siste året har det blir 700.000 nye strømmekunder […].

Industry events

*Events where Mediavision will be presenting