Competition on the esports & gaming market is ramping up, and the appetite for content is high. The Nordic region lies in the forefront of the development and northerners are avid viewers. Esports & gaming content attracted 1.2 million daily viewers across the Nordics during the fourth quarter of 2018.

The number of tournaments and esports & gaming related content on offer is higher than ever. Zooming in on the Nordics, northerners are avid viewers. During Q4 2018 online esports & gaming content attracted an audience of 1.2 million across the Nordic region an average day.

Daily online reach for esports & gaming in the Nordics, Q4 2018
Viewers are predominantly young; 48 percent of viewers are aged 15-24. Meanwhile, 27 percent of viewers are women, marking an indicated increase of 20 percent compared to last year.

Esports & gaming viewer demographics an average month in the Nordics, Q4 2018
Battle royale games such as Fortnite are a contributing factor. The genre has exploded in size and viewership. Four months after its launch Fortnite had attracted 45 million registered players, since then the game has launched on iOS as well as Android devices and now boasts over 200 million players. Furthermore, Fortnite consistently scores among the top viewed content on Twitch. However, Electronic Arts recently launched its own battle royale title called Apex Legends. Apex Legends grew its player base exceedingly fast, in one week the game had attracted 25 million players.

Other actors on the market have surely taken notice of the battle royale genres massive success and possibly felt its effects. Games developer Activision Blizzard, known for games such as World of Warcraft and Overwatch, recently announced an 8 percent reduction of its workforce as a result of its fourth quarter earnings being lower than expected.

Mediavision press releases:

Household media spend on the rise
Swedish households continuously spend more money on media services. During 2018 an average Swedish household spent 450 SEK per month on media subscriptions. The appetite for video services remain high, video spend has increased by […].

Industry news:

Tencent Games introduces streaming rules
Tencent Games has established rules for all its gaming content in China in response to internet governance requirements. The rules are applicable to all streaming platforms and streamers if their content is based on Tencent products.

Paradox Interactive reports record quarter
Games developer Paradox Interactive reported quarterly earnings of 146.8 million SEK for Q4 2018, which marks an increase of 69 percent compared to Q4 2017. Net turnover summed up to 337 million SEK, a 51 percent increase since 2017.

Twitter unveils new political ads policies
Twitter plans to introduce additional checks and publish more information surrounding political ads in Europe. In January the EU warned tech companies to intensify efforts to combat disinformation ahead of the elections, or face regulation.

Netflix cancels its remaining Marvel TV shows
Netflix has cancelled its last two remaining Marvel shows Jessica Jones and The Punisher. Disney has earlier announced it will remove all its content from Netflix in conjunction with the launch of Disney+.

Soundcloud launches music distribution tool
Soundcloud announced its launching a distribution tool which lets artists distribute their music to other streaming services such as Amazon Music, Apple Music or Spotify. The feature is currently in open beta and available to premium users.

Mediavision in the news:

Allt mer pengar läggs på strömmade tjänster
Svenskarna lägger allt mer pengar på medietjänster som strömmad film och musik. I snitt spenderade hushållen 450 kronor i månaden förra året. Störst är suget efter rörlig bild där ökningen var nästan 20 procent på ett år, enligt analysföretaget Mediavision.

Swedish average monthly SVoD spending rises by 30 SEK in 2018
Spending on media services rose to an average of SEK 450 per month in Sweden in 2018, with expenditure on video increasing by almost 20 percent compared with 2017, said consultancy Medivision.

Sweden: SVoD spen up 44% in 2018
Analysis from Mediavision shows that household spend on media subscriptions increased substantially in Sweden during 2018. Video makes up two thirds of the monthly spend of which digital pay-TV continues to attain the majority.

Industry events

• MIPTV: April, 8-11, Cannes, France

*Events where Mediavision will be presenting