Industry News
Danish Media Industry Receives Support
On the 1st of April, a press release from the Danish government disclosed that Danish media affected by the Corona crisis will receive financial aid. The new compensation scheme supports the industry with an estimated 180 million DKK.
Success of Quibi Launch Uncertain
Quibi launched on Monday at prices of 95 SEK, 89 NOK and 69 DKK respectively. The lower priced, ad-supported version is so far only available in the US. Sources say the app was downloaded 300′ times; Quibi did not release own figures. The current situation with fewer people commuting etc. is assumed to impact the performance.
Swedish Government Supports the Media
Also the Swedish government has presented a support package for local media. The government and its support parties have proposed a permanent boost to the media support of 200 million SEK. Further, regulations regarding payments of media support are adjusted.
Storytel Sees Doubling in Listeners
Audiobook streamer Storytel reports a doubling in influx of customers during the two final weeks of March. For Q1 2020, the company reported an average of 1,15 million customers, an increase of approximately 71 400 customers compared to Q4 2019.
HBO (US) Offers Free Viewing
Trying to ease compliance of the national recommendation across the US for people to practice social distancing, HBO is now offering people to stream a variety of series, documentaries and movies on HBO Now and HBO Go for free during a limited period of time.
WarnerMedia Appoints New CEO
Former Amazon SVP and Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has been appointed as new CEO of WarnerMedia. Kilar will oversee new streaming service HBO Max, set to launch on May 1st , in addition to HBO, Warner Bros., Otter Media and Turner cable network, including TNT, TBS and CNN.
Disney+ Launched in India
The launch of Disney+ in India was originally set to March 29th, with the start of the 2020 IPL season, but was postponed due to the corona outbreak. Instead, the service launched on April 3rd, available to the 1.3 billion Indian people now in the middle of a 21-day lockdown.
ViacomCBS to Invest in Miramax
ViacomCBS has acquired a 49% stake in studio Miramax, following a $375 million deal with beIn Media Group that retains 51% ownership. ViacomCBS is to invest more than $200 million in the studio. Further, Paramount Pictures has signed a distribution deal for Miramax’s films.
Launch of Salto Delayed
The launch of French streaming service Salto, a joint venture between France Télévisions, TF1 and M6 Group, could be postponed to autumn 2020 due to COVID-19 delays in production and delivery of content.
Government Supports Norwegian Media
On Tuesday, the Norwegian Parliament instructed the Culture and Gender Equality Minister to bring an economic aid and relief package to Norwegian media to mitigate consequences of the corona crisis. The decision has been long awaited by actors in the industry.
Although athletes have been forced to take an involuntary break from the action on the field for the last couple of months, the world of sports media has been quite eventful. Popular media sports rights have switched owners and Telia & Discovery recently made an agreement that turns the tables for sports content in Sweden. On top of that, the first major league was restarted last weekend.
With practically all professional sports activities (apart from equestrian sports) put on hold this far into the pandemic, interest for sports has not worn off. According to a global survey, conducted by IMI’s NextWave consultancy, 38% of males in the Gen Z/Millennial age groups say watching live sports is what they miss the most during the pandemic, outranking both feeling safe to go outside (31%) and general social interaction (32%). Data from Mediavision’s Nordic Sports Analysis 2019 supports this notion.
While sports events are put on hold, the sports market has been anything but calm. High-ranking media rights have been negotiated and perhaps the most eye-catching agreement is that of Nordic Champions League (CL) rights – ranked as the most popular premium sports right in the region in Mediavision’s Nordic Sports Analysis 2019. CL was recently secured by NENT (DK),TV 2 (NO) and Telia/TV4 Media (FI and SE). This week, Telia demonstrated its commitment to sports even further by securing the rights to the top male football league in Spain, La Liga, until spring 2026.
On Monday May 18th, Telia announced that it will license the standalone OTT rights to Discovery in Finland and Sweden (thereby fulfilling the terms set out by the European Commission regarding Telia’s acquisition of Bonnier Broadcasting/TV4). Dplay will carry TV4 Media/C More’s sports content – likely increasing the attractiveness of Dplay significantly, which is already home to popular sports such as the Swedish major football league Allsvenskan and the Olympic games (both summer and winter). This may turn the tables for Dplay, that is still small in terms of numbers of subscribers compared to its competitors.
As it seems, we will soon see some of the major leagues restarting. Germany’s top male football league Bundesliga was first in returning to the stadiums last weekend, but not without objections from the fans. German TV network ZDF found that 62% of the fans would have preferred to cancel the season entirely, rather than resuming the league under terms set out by the Ministry of Health. Regardless, the matches drew record audiences. For example, NENT reported that the six broadcasted games this weekend attracted on average 40,000 viewers in Denmark, compared to 13,000 for this seasons games played prior to the pandemic. Viewing of the high-profile game between Dortmund and Schalke increased by 400% on Viaplay in the Nordics, compared to the corresponding game last fall.
In the Nordics, dates for the return of all top leagues for football has been set, apart for Swedish Allsvenskan. Norwegian Eliteserien is set for 16th of June, Danish Superliga for 28th of May and Finnish Tipsligan (Veikkausliiga) for 1st of July. In Sweden, negotiations have been heated. Last Friday, the Ministry of Health disapproved the proposed starting date and postponed the decision of a new date further. Hopefully, a decision will be made next week.
Cancelled or postponed games of course have severe financial consequences for all actors involved in this industry. Rightsholders will neither pay full price for paused seasons, nor for games lacking the usual atmosphere as spectators are not allowed in the stadiums. The majority of rightsholders have lowered their prices on premium sports subscriptions, causing substantial revenue loss. As leagues are beginning to restart, and money transfers from rightsholders are reinstated, prices of packages may soon be back to original – but not yet. So far, TV 2 Norway has announced that the regular pricing will not apply until when Premier League is played.
Industry News
US Pay-TV Lost 2 million Subs in Q1
According to the Leichtman Research group, the largest actors in the US pay-TV industry lost approximately 2 million subscribers in Q1 2020. These actors hold about 95% of the total market. Comcast was the actor with the greatest loss.
IBC 2020 Cancelled
The leading event for the European broadcasting industry, IBC, has been cancelled due to the corona virus pandemic. The organizing group is now planning for a digital version of the event.
Netflix Restores Streaming Quality
At the end of March, Netflix along with other streaming services, announced that it would reduce its bandwidth usage by 25% for 30 days. The period was extended, but reports state that Netflix now has begun restoring quality in some countries.
Global OTT Revenues to Reach $167 Billion
According to a study conducted by Digital TV Research, global OTT revenues are expected to reach $167 billion by 2025. If realized, the digits would be double the previous $83 billion recorded in 2019. SVOD is assumed to take a 58% share of the revenues.
Stofa Increased Revenue – But Lost Profits
In its 2019 annual report, Danish Stofa reported record high revenues of 2.16 billion DKK, but profits decreased by approximately 30 million DKK compared to 2018, due to investments and the fusion of SE and Eniig into Stofa’s owner Norlys.
Amedia Launches New Digital Subscription
Norwegian media house Amedia is set to launch new digital subscription bundle Alt+, providing subscribers access to 70 local newspapers. In addition to the local papers, Nettavisen will be included at the price of 249 NOK.
Get and NENT Cooperate on Streaming
For the first time in Norway, Viaplay’s movies and series will be ingested into Get’s own TV-service, in an effort by Get to strengthen its offer in the TV-market. Viaplay’s own app and web-solutions will be included for customers of Get as well.
UK Content Production to be Resumed
The biggest broadcasters in the UK have agreed on a 15-page long document outlining guidance as to how production should be resumed following the corona virus lockdown. Production in the UK has been shut down since mid-March.
SVOD Added 4,6 million New Subs in UK
In the UK, almost 5 million households have signed up to a streaming service since the corona virus lockdown was initiated in late March. Disney+ launched during the period and is estimated to have gained 1.6 million subs in the UK during the first month.
Telmore & Netflix in Unique Nordic Deal
Netflix will be offered as part of Danish mobile service provider Telmore’s content packages in Telmore Play, following a unique deal for the Nordics. Telmore has, according to own sources, 700 000 customers, with 30% of them subscribing to Telmore Play.
Mediavision Press Releases
Spotify Twice as big as Apple Podcasts in the Nordics
According to Mediavision’s quarterly analysis of the Nordic audio market in Q1, Spotify is the podcast platform with the highest daily reach in the Nordic countries.
Svenska hushåll lägger alltmer pengar på medietjänster i Q1 2020
Mediavisions analys av hushållens medieköp första kvartalet 2020 visar att utgifterna för ljud, text och rörlig bild fortsätter att öka.
More Streaming Subscriptions in Swedish Households – Strong Growth Expected in 2020
Today, Mediavision releases its Q1 analysis of the Swedish TV and streaming market. For the first time since the Netflix’s launch in Sweden 2012, there is no growth YOY in SVOD household penetration.
Mediavision in the News
Strömningstjänster ser en ökning i coronatider
De svenska konsumenternas intresse för strömningstjänster har nått en topp under coronakrisen. Det visar kvartalsrapporter från analysföretagen MMS och Mediavision.
Swedish SVoD subscriptions rise in Q1 but not household penetration
Swedish consultancy Mediavision said in its analysis of Sweden’s television and streaming market in the first quarter of 2020 that there has been no year-on-year growth in SVoD household penetration…
Svenska hushållens mediautgifter ökade i första kvartalet
De svenska hushållen har under första kvartalet spenderat i snitt 655 kronor på media, vilket är en ökning med fem procent året innan. Det visar en analys från Mediavision.
Svenska hushåll lägger 25 kr i månaden på ljudböcker – av totalt 655 kr på media
De hushåll som redan har ett streamingabonnemang är mer benägna att skaffa ett till. Det visar Mediavisions siffror från årets första kvartal.
Swedish Q1 average household media spending rises 5% year on year
Swedish household spending on media rose to an average of SEK 655 in the first quarter of 2020, according to consultancy Medaivision.
Stremingabonnemangen ökar – men inte nykunderna
De hushåll som redan har ett streamingabonnemang är mer benägna att skaffa ett till. Det visar Mediavisions siffror från årets första kvartal.