Currently, Denmark and Luxembourg are the only European nations without a production incentive scheme. In contrast, countries like Sweden, Norway, and Finland already offer substantial incentives to attract productions to be made in the region. However, the Danish government has now proposed introducing a production incentive scheme, set to launch in 2026—a proposal that has been met with great enthusiasm by the Danish media industry.

The proposed scheme aims to compensate Danish productions for part of their expenses, with the overarching goal of transforming Denmark into a “European powerhouse for films and TV series,” according to the proposal.

“Denmark has a significant strategic interest in establishing strong foundations for film and TV productions. I think it’s absurd that a series like Frøken Smilla’s Feeling for Snow, which is set in Greenland and Denmark, was filmed in Latvia, Lithuania, and Iceland—all of which offer production incentives. It’s a missed opportunity for jobs, our rich storytelling traditions, and showcasing our magnificent kingdom,” said Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt.

The Danish government has proposed to allocate DKK 125 million annually to the program, which is substantially more than Sweden´s SEK 100 million (approximately DKK 65 million) and Norway’s NOK 130 million (approximately DKK 75 million) annual allocations. To refine the full structure of the scheme, Minister of Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt plans to consult with the industry to gather input on the best design for the scheme.

Music streaming services continue to expand their offerings. For many services, it began with podcasts, and last year Spotify introduced audiobooks as part of its premium subscriptions. Now, Amazon Music is following suit by integrating audiobooks from Audible into its service.

Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers in the US, UK, and Canada will be able to select one audiobook per month from Audible’s library. The partnership adds a catalogue of approximately one million audiobooks in the US and 800,000 in the UK to Amazon’s music platform, further expanding its range of non-music audio content alongside podcasts.

If users want more audiobook listening than the included monthly book, they will need to either subscribe to Audible or purchase audiobooks a la carte through the app. This setup is similar to Spotify’s audiobook offering, though Spotify users receive 15 hours of audiobook listening per month, while Amazon Music subscribers get one book per month. Spotify recently expanded its audiobook service to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, where 12 hours of audiobook listening is included in Premium subscriptions, instead of the 15 which is included in the English-speaking markets.

When Spotify added audiobooks to its Premium tier, the company reclassified the offering as a bundle, which in the US allowed it to pay lower mechanical royalties to publishers. This decision sparked significant criticism and a lawsuit from the royalties-collecting organization, the MLC. In contrast, Amazon Music’s recent expansion into audiobooks has not yet generated a similar backlash.

The US publishing body, the NMPA, which led the criticism against Spotify, issued a positive statement regarding Amazon Music’s audiobooks launch.

“We are optimistic about the new Amazon bundle. Amazon has engaged with the music publishing and songwriting industry in a respectful and productive way, unlike Spotify. We expect this new Amazon bundle will not decrease revenue for songwriters,” said NMPA boss David Israelite.

“Unlike Spotify, Amazon is looking at music creators as business partners and seeking to have a deal in place before the first round of royalty payments. This is in stark contrast to Spotify who is trying to pervert the compulsory license and slash what they pay songwriters,” Israelite commented.

A year ago, SkyShowtime announced the acquisition of the Swedish drama series Veronika, purchased from Viaplay Content Distribution. The series premiered in March and has now been renewed for a second season. Directed by Mikael Håfström, season two of Veronika will mark SkyShowtime’s first local original series recommission across its markets.

“We are very proud to announce our first recommission of a SkyShowtime Original. Veronika has proven to be a huge success, captivating so many of our members across all our markets. Once again with Alexandra Rapaport and Tobias Santelmann at the helm, and a superb team of creators behind the scenes, we believe viewers will continue to enjoy this very unique crime story with a supernatural twist that Veronika is. Underscoring our commitment to making SkyShowtime a great partner to storytellers from around our footprint, the second season of the show will add to the growing line-up of about 30 SkyShowtime Originals available to our members by the end of 2025,” said Kai Finke, Chief Content Officer at SkyShowtime.

Veronika season two is created and scripted by Katja Juras and Anna Ströman Lindblom and is produced by Calle Jansson and Mathias Gruffman at Bigster, with lead actress Alexandra Rapaport serving as Executive Producer. The new season is set to premiere next year.

Här är ljudmarknadens största utmaningar 2025 och framåt – Dagens Media

Styrkebesked från svenska strömningsmarknaden – Dagens industri

Report: Ad tiers boost streaming subs in Sweden – Advanced Television

Hvod driver tillväxt på streamingmarknaden – Dagens media

Tiktok störst bland unga – det blir konsekvenserna – Expressen

Stadig flere velger strømming med reklame: – Lar seg ikke skremme – Kampanje

Strømming med reklame fortsetter å vokse kraftig i Norge – KOM24

TikTok has over 1 million daily viewers in Sweden – Broadband TV News

Tiktok har over én mio. daglige brugere i Sverige – Mediawatch

Growth in Sweden for podcasts and streaming – Podnews

Report: Continued growth for streamed music in Sweden – Advanced Television

Norge på topp på strømming, men globale aktører løper ifra – Medier24