Streaming services offered and bundled by TV operators have rapidly gained traction across the Nordic region. Mediavision’s latest analysis shows that Norway is at the forefront of this development. Here, nearly half of all households have at least one streaming service bundled by an operator. Growth in this segment has been strong during 2024.

Today, 75 percent of households in Norway subscribe to at least one paid streaming service, a significant increase compared to the same period last year. This strong growth has largely been driven by TV and broadband operators increasingly offering streaming bundles alongside other services. Nearly half of all households in Norway, now have access to at least one streaming service via their TV operator. These bundles include services like Netflix, TV2 Play, or Viaplay and are often combined with broadband or pay-TV. In households with pay-TV, this is very common – over 60 percent of these households also have streaming services from their operator. This confirms a successful strategy by operators to shift their business toward streaming.

“Traditional TV viewing has declined sharply in recent years in Norway,” says Adrian Grande, Senior Analyst at Mediavision. “At the same time, online video viewing has increased substantially. TV and broadband operators have strengthened their market positions during this transformation by offering streaming services bundled with TV or broadband,” continues Adrian Grande.

Norway is clearly leading this development in the Nordic region, with a significantly higher household penetration compared to neighboring countries. The share of households with at least one bundled streaming service is nearly twice as high as in the rest of the Nordics. Grande predicts that the rest of the Nordic region will follow a similar trajectory.

“The supply of streaming services via operators continues to grow throughout the Nordic region. In Norway, operators and streaming services have been successful in creating attractive bundle solutions, which is clearly reflected in the strong consumer interest. Many customers seem to appreciate the simplicity of consolidating several of their TV and streaming services with a single operator,” says Grande.

According to Grande, the increase in streaming services via operators also has positive consequences for the advertising market. In recent years, several streaming services have launched so-called hybrid subscriptions (HVOD), where customers pay a lower fee in exchange for accepting a certain ad load. These subscriptions are also bundled by operators, which has contributed to strong growth for hybrid subscriptions. Today, there are over one million hybrid subscriptions in Norway, and most of these are bundled with other services via operators.

“In many of the most popular bundles offered by operators, users get access to the streaming services’ partially ad-funded subscriptions. This, in turn, has driven an increase in these subscriptions, which is positive for the entire TV market as advertising revenues rise,” concludes Grande.