Read up on the full press release here with commentary from Mediavision’s CEO Marie Nilsson.

TV4 has decided to put a temporary halt to the long-running primetime shows Let’s Dance and Talang (Swedish equivalent to Britain’s Got Talent). Let’s Dance has run for a total of 18 years, and Talang for 12 years, of which 11 has been on TV4. Talang has previously had a break between the years 2012 and 2016. The broadcaster has cited declining viewership and an overall content renewal as the main reasons for putting the show on hold, but emphasizes that it is indeed a pause, not a cancellation.

“Despite the fact that Let’s Dance is still a program with more than one million viewers every week, the viewership has been falling steadily in recent years. We want to break that trend and then we need a break to review how we could renew ourselves and come back again in 2025 with new energy,” says Fredrik Arefalk, content and channel director at TV4.

The decision to pause the two primetime shows comes shortly after the merger of C More into the new enhanced online platform TV4 Play, as well as the company’s implementation of a savings package. Arefalk also stated that TV4 will not buy as many international films and series in the future.

One show that most likely will replace Let’s Dance or Talang in a primetime slot is Bäst i test (the Swedish version of Taskmaster). This spring, it was announced that TV4 had acquired the rights to the popular show, which SVT previously had for seven years.

Meta is reportedly considering introducing paid versions of Facebook and Instagram for users in the EU. These versions would be a response to the privacy regulations and other scrutiny from the EU, by providing an alternative to their now ad-based services that rely on the users’ data.

Earlier this year, the EU laws prompted the Irish Data Protection Commission to fine Meta a total of EUR 390 million for forcing users to accept personalized ads as a condition of using Facebook. This is stated as one of the reasons for the potential launch of paid versions of the social media platforms. The regulatory concerns are also reported as the reason that Meta has not yet launched its X (previously Twitter)-competitor Threads in the EU.

Meta has not commented the matter, so the details regarding the eventual price and launch date remain unknown. Meta is expected to continue to offer its free ad-based versions of Instagram and Facebook within the EU.

During the second quarter of 2023 in Sweden, both Facebook and Instagram grew significantly also in online viewing. Both platforms are now in the top five for daily online video reach and each service reach over 10 percent of the 15-74-year-olds in Sweden every day. This is presented in Mediavision’s Q2 analysis of the Swedish TV & streaming market.

Svenskarnas kontodelning kostar jättarna nära 1 miljard kronor – Dagens Industri

Sweden: SVoDs losing €75m per year to account sharing – Advanced Television

Svensk login-deling koster streamingudbydere over en halv milliard årligt – Mediawatch

Delning innebär förlorade streamingintäkter på nära 1 miljard – Dagens Media

Trendbrott: Fler svenskar piratkopierar film och tv – Dagens Nyheter

Streamingbranschen har fått växtvärk – Sveriges Radio

Poll: Illegal streaming on the rise in Nordic countries – Yle