Newsletter 6th of March
NEWSLETTER
6 March 2024
These are the main topics this week:
- Nuuday pauses its content production
- Spotify launches standalone audiobook service in the US
- Warner Bros Discovery is reportedly cracking down on account sharing on Max
CONTENT
Nuuday pauses its content production
About five years ago, Nuuday started investing in content production and purchasing of sports rights. The company launched the TV and streaming channel Xee in collaboration with Fox, which was to be filled with Danish content, among other things. But now, the investment and all content production has been put on hold.
Nuuday’s content ambitions started with a desire to strengthen the Danish content offering on the local market. The company had success with series under the brand Yousee Originals, including award-winning shows like Sunday and Junglen. The latest, and perhaps the last, production was the crime drama series Not a word, which premiered in November last year.
Increased production costs and a saturated content market are stated as main reasons for the decision to put all production on hold. Instead, the company is focusing on strengthening its content offering through agreements with major streaming services and improving user experience with the Yousee Streamer platform.
Kim Poul Christensen, media director at Yousee, says that “Yousee is first and foremost an aggregator. It is no longer true that no Danish content is produced. TV 2 airs a new TV series episode nearly every week throughout the year. We try to take advantage of that. We have never had any ambition to be competitors on the content market”.
Whether content investments are simply paused or ends here, is not yet decided, Christensen states.
“You should never say never. But I would say that we, as the market leader in this area, will always take advantage of the situation. And as it looks now, the situation is completely different from when we chose to start production,” says Kim Poul Christensen.
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Content AnalysisThis analysis tracks the progress of individual and household payments per service and actor, as well as overall media expenditures. The primary focus is mapping out the allocation of expenditures across audio, video, text, and access. Published biannually. |
AUDIO
Spotify launches standalone audiobook service in the US
Late last year, Spotify began offering 15 hours of monthly audiobook listening to its premium subscribers in selected markets, including the US. Just a few weeks ago, Spotify revealed that it is now the second-largest audiobook provider in the US, following Amazon-owned Audible.
Since Spotify launched audiobooks included in premium subscriptions, the company states that there has been a 45 percent increase in free users searching for, and interacting with, audiobook content each day on Spotify. This may be one of the reasons for Spotify’s latest launch, which is a standalone audiobook subscription. The new subscription is aimed at those currently using the free and ad-supported version of Spotify.
The name of the new tier is Audiobooks Access Tier and is now available in the US. For a monthly fee of USD 9.99, customers get 15 hours ad-free audiobook listening per month. The audiobook catalog consists of over 200,000 titles. Users of the new tier can also listen to music and podcasts, however, that listening will include ads. Spotify has not given any information regarding an future expansion of its audiobook tier.
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Insikt: LjudmarknadThis analysis provides in-depth understanding of the entire audio market – including audiobooks, music, podcasts, and radio. The analysis focuses on the digital transformation of both listening and consumer payments, on both aggregated and actor specific levels. |
VIDEO
Warner Bros Discovery is reportedly cracking down on account sharing on Max
Preventing costumers from sharing their streaming accounts with others has been on the agenda for most streamers for some time now. Netflix rolled out its password sharing crackdown last year and it is said to be one of the main reasons for its recent subscriber and revenue growth. Last month, Disney announced that its initiative to crackdown on account sharing on Disney Plus will begin this summer.
Now, according to Bloomberg, Warner Bros Discovery’s Max is the next streaming service to implement an anti-account sharing action. The initiative is said to begin later this year and continue to be rolled out across 2025. The streaming service Max is currently only available in the US, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Max is coming to 22 European countries in Spring 2024, including the Nordics. The news of an account sharing crackdown has not been officially confirmed by Warner Bros Discovery yet.
Removing the possibility to share an account is one of the measures that streamers have taken in order to increase subscriber and revenue growth when the market is maturing. HVOD, hybrid video on demand, is another measure. Recently, Skyshowtime announced that it will launch an ad-supported tier in April this year, including in the Nordics. Furthermore, Viaplay announced during its latest earnings call that an ad-supported tier is coming to the platform this year. Additionally, Max’s advertising tier, currently only available in the US, will be rolled out to 40 international markets by the end of this year. So far for the Nordics, Warner Bros Discovery has announced that an advertising tier will be available in Norway and Sweden.
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Insight: Nordic TV & StreamingThis analysis covers both the TV- and streaming markets in the Nordic countries. It rests on three pillars: the consumers, the market, and the actors. Analyzing the consumers takes us far – but not all the way. Studying the actors and the market as a whole is just as important. |
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Sony is laying off 900 employees from its PlayStation unit
Apple invests heavily in generative AI
Young Royal’s final season premieres on Monday
EU fines Apple for EUR 1.8bn
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Mediavision in the News
Mediavision: Growing demand for local content in the Nordics – Broadband TV News
Därför blir streamingtjänsterna allt dyrare – och sämre – PC för alla
Mediavision: Ad-Supported SVOD Gaining Traction in the Nordics – Media Play News
Mediavision: Starkt intresse för HVOD i Sverige – Dagens Media
Efterspørgslen på nordisk tv-indhold stiger men udbuddet kan ikke følge med – Mediawatch
Sweden: Interest growing in ad-supported streaming – Advanced Television
Svenskar vill se mer svenskt på streamad tv – Sveriges Radio
Illegal affär kostar filmindustrin miljarder – Dagens PS
Var fjärde svensk strömmar olaglig tv – SVT
Kan bli det store gjennombruddet for denne typen TV-abonnement – Kampanje
Mediavision: Digitala ljudtjänster tar andelar på ljudmarknaden – Radionytt
Return of media piracy fuelling other crimes, expert says – Yle
Krisen i tv-branschen fortsätter – nu ökar piratkopieringen – Aftonbladet
Industry Events
MIPTV: 15-17 April 2024, Cannes, France
* Mediavision will attend
** Mediavision will present