The Schibsted-owned podcast streaming service Podme primarily makes premium podcasts for paying subscribers. The service is available in Finland, Norway and Sweden. Now, Podme and the distribution platform Podspace have entered an advertising partnership, making selected podcast episodes available for a broader audience.

Podme is entering the ad-financed podcast market in Sweden and Finland. Through a new collaboration with Podspace, Podme will release podcast episodes from its archive to non-subscribers. The advertising is to be sold via the advertising network Podspace Ads. Podme will also sell native campaigns and sponsorship of individual titles.

Nicolas Leon, head of Sweden at Podme, is enthusiastic that the podcasts are now becoming available to more people. “We are very excited to launch this initiative that will make our podcasts available to an even larger audience. Our priority is to deliver first-class content and now we can offer it in a more flexible way. Through advertisements and sponsorship collaborations, we now also create new revenue opportunities for both the company and our creators”, Leon comments in the press release.

Through the collaboration, Podspace expands its advertising network, which at the time of writing includes Bonnier News, Perfect Day Media and Make Sense Media.

Generative AI is taking a big step towards streaming. Fable Studio, the company behind the viral AI-generated South Park clips, has announced the launch of a new streaming platform which allows users to create their own content by prompts.

Last week, Fable Studio announced the new streaming platform Showrunner. According to the company, the platform can write, voice and animate episodes of the shows it carries. At the initial release, users will be able to watch AI-generated series and create their own content — complete with the ability to control dialogue and characters, among other features. The tech is limited solely to animation and doesn’t have the capability to create live-action shots yet.

The announcement of Showrunner featured ten animated shows of various genres that were mostly made with AI tools, except for the music and some transitions. The shows include Exit Valley, a satire of Silicon Valley mimicking the animation style and comedic flavor of South Park, and Sim Francisco, an anthology series of people living in the shared universe of Sim Francisco, where several of Showrunner’s shows take place.

“The vision is to be the Netflix of AI,” CEO of Fable Studios Edward Saatchi commented. “Maybe you finish all of the episodes of a show you’re watching, and you click the button to make another episode. You can say what it should be about, or you can let the AI make it itself.”

Users can now join a waitlist for a free testing version of Showrunner, which will likely last until the end of the year, according to Saatchi. The company says that the waiting list currently holds 50 000 persons

One of the most prestigious tennis tournaments, The Wimbledon Tennis Championships, will stay on Eurosport and Max in Finland, Norway & Sweden. The new agreement covers eleven European markets in total, including all singles and doubles matches, as well as qualifying matches, shown live and on-demand. Other markets included in the new agreement are Belgium, Hungary, Iceland, among others.

The new agreement means that the Wimbledon championships will continue to be shown on Eurosport in Finland, Norway, and Sweden, with every match to be streamed on Max. Eurosport will then hold the exclusive rights in this region for more than a decade, since Eurosport first began showing Wimbledon in multiple markets in 2016. WBD’s coverage of the Wimbledon Championships begins with the qualifying rounds on Monday 24th of June.

In the Nordics, close to 10 percent of the 15-74-year-olds state interest in watching tennis on TV/online. Among the different tennis events, Wimbledon is the tournament which draws the highest interest. This is concluded in Mediavision’s newly published Sports Analysis 2024.

Pirat-tv ökar i Norden – fem miljoner tittar illegalt – SVT Nyheter

Piratforbrug af film, serier og sport steg med otte pct. i 2023 – Mediawatch

Pirat-tv ökar i Norden: ”Sverige har en tradition” – Sveriges Radio

Ti prosent av norske hjem strømmer ulovlig ifølge ny undersøkelse – Kampanje

Ny rapport: Ti prosent av norske husstander strømmer sport ulovlig – Dagsavisen

Kampen om tittarna hårdnar – nu startar streamingtjänsten Max – Aftonbladet

När satsar Spotify på ljudböcker? – Svensk Bokhandel

Mediavisions vd: Churn, hybrid, anti-delning – det nya normala – Dagens Media

Skräcksiffra för branschen: Tre miljoner delar konton – Dagens industri

Kampanj ska lyfta problemet med illegala streaming – Dagens Media

Big windfall ahead if Nordic streamers can defeat password sharing – C21 Media

Hotet mot svenska elitidrotten – Aftonbladet

Mediavision: Growing demand for local content in the Nordics – Broadband TV News