Anton Ljung, Author at mediavision

Today, more than 90 percent of households in Sweden pay for some form of media subscription. Despite rising interest rates, inflation and increased financial strain, there appear to be no signs of saturation in paid media. Quite the opposite, according to Mediavision’s latest analysis there is a new record level for the households’ total media expenditure. Households pay the most for TV and streaming subscriptions.

In the first quarter of 2023, a household in Sweden paid an average of SEK 807 per month for media services. Seen over a year, this means that households spend close to SEK 10,000 on media. The sum includes both subscriptions and individually purchased media. In other words, everything from Netflix subscriptions to audiobooks, Spotify, cinema tickets, gaming and newspapers are included – both paper and digital. Over the past year, Mediavision notes an increase in household media spend of 5 percent. The increasing strain on the household economy thus does not seem to have affected the willingness to pay.

Viewed across the various types of media, TV and video streaming are by far the biggest categories. This is partly explained by the fact that Swedish households have acquired more services. More than half of the average household’s media budget goes to TV and video streaming, after a growth of 9 percent in the last 12 months. However, payment for audiobooks and podcasts has also grown.

As far as newspapers and magazines are concerned, a continued but slow redistribution towards digital services is noted. Biggest spend in this category is made on subscriptions to daily newspapers. And the digital share of daily press has increased from 35 to 40 percent in the past year. Overall, however, digital daily press accounts for less than 5 percent of total media spending.

– Despite these challenging times, we can see that households in Sweden stay loyal to their media purchases, comments Marie Nilsson, CEO at Mediavision. And not only that, but the analysis also shows that households today pay for more media subscriptions than ever before. Just as we have noted during other economic downturns, media plays a very important role in our everyday lives. Maybe even to the extent that media services become extra important when other things have to be cut back.

Midsummer is here, and with that, Mediavision’s newsletter will take a summer break. We will be back in August and until then, we wish you all a wonderful summer!

These are the main topics this week:

Mediavision: High interest and willingness to pay for Nordic content
Spotify ends Meghan & Harry’s podcast and announce a new with Trevor Noah
The cast of Disney Plus’ first Nordic original has been announced

CONTENT

Mediavision: High interest and willingness to pay for Nordic content

Nordic TV viewers have always been very keen on locally produced fiction. This interest is also obvious in households subscribing to a paid streaming service, SVOD. Half of the Nordic SVOD households say they are willing to pay extra for a bigger supply of local movies and series. This is concluded in Mediavision’s latest content analysis.

Almost half of all Nordic households with a paid streaming subscription, i.e., SVOD, claim willingness to pay EUR 1-3 more per month to gain access to a larger library of local movies and series. Almost 25 percent of the households would pay EUR 3 per month for this. Among the streaming services, Apple TV+ stands out with a majority of its Nordic subscribing households willing to pay more for a larger supply of local content. Today, Apple TV+ has a relatively small library, compared to its’ streaming competitors, and it is the only service without any Nordic content.

Read up on the full press release here, with commentary from Mediavision’s Senior analyst Natalia Borelius.

Content Analysis

This analysis maps and analyses all on-demand content available on streaming services in the Nordics and its impact on consumption, actors, and market dynamics. It focuses on the interplay between supply and demand and thus provides a solid foundation for decision-making within content strategy and related areas.

Netflix to open a restaurant with food from its shows

Twitter is working on a video app for smart TVs

Ragnarok season 3 is coming to Netflix in August

Cychosis becomes first Danish film to collect green film certificate

AUDIO

Spotify ends Meghan & Harry’s podcast and announce a new with Trevor Noah

Spotify’s exclusive podcast agreement with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry has ended. This was confirmed by a joint statement from the couple and Spotify.

In December 2020, Meghan and Harry first announced that they had signed an exclusive podcast deal with Spotify. Later that month, the couple released a holiday-themed episode, but the listeners had to wait for a year and a half for any more content. Ultimately, the partnership ended at 13 podcast episodes.

The deal is said to have been worth around USD 20 million, but according to sources, the couple did not reach the productivity targets that would lead to the full payout. A representative for Meghan Markle says that she is still planning to develop more audio content and that the team remain proud of the podcast they created for Spotify.

It has not taken long for Spotify to ink a big new podcast deal. Yesterday, a new original podcast with comedian, TV personality and author Trevor Noah was announced.
The new weekly podcast will blend Noah’s humor and global perspective, to take on the most interesting topics of the moment. The podcast will feature in-depth and freewheeling conversations between Trevor and famous people from around the world.

“It’s really exciting to be joining Spotify on a fun new adventure where we’ll engage in interesting and meaningful conversations with some of the world’s most fascinating people. We’ll also probably fix every single issue humankind has ever faced so you definitely want to join us for every episode” Trevor Noah commented.

Trevor Noah revealed the news during a conversation with Spotify CEO Daniel Ek, at Spotify Beach at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity in France. The new podcast will be available on numerous platforms, which differs from Spotify’s previous original podcasts. This may be part of a bigger change in Spotify’s strategy, which we mentioned in last week’s newsletter. The podcast will release later this year.

Insikt: Ljudmarknad

This 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.

Podimo completes another funding round

Bauer Media launches nine new digital radio stations in Denmark

Reddit users campaign against payment scheme

Twitter competitor Spill launches in beta on iOS

VIDEO

The cast of Disney Plus’ first Nordic original has been announced

Back in November last year, Disney Plus announced its first Nordic original series, To Cook a bear. Now, the filming of the series has started, and the cast has been presented.

Members of the cast include, among others, Gustav Skarsgård, Ane Dahl Torp, Tyra Wingren, Magnus Krepper, Pernilla August, Jonas Karlsson, and Emil Kárlsen. Emil played To Cook a Bear at the Sami National Theater in 2022. Norwegian Trygve Allister Diesen is the director of the series and Swedish Jesper Harrie is the screenwriter.

The six-episode series is based on Mikael Niemi’s novel and is set in the summer of 1852, in the village of Kengis, Northern Sweden. The story follows the young Sami boy Jussi, played by Emil Kárlsen, and the newly appointed revivalist Pastor, played by Gustav Skarsgård.

To Cook a Bear is produced by Mia Welin for Anagram Sweden, with Anagram’s Miira Paasilinna and Martin Persson as executive producers, as well as The Walt Disney Company Nordic & Baltics’ Nanna Mailand-Mercado. The series is supported by Business Finland, with Helsinki-filmi handling the Finnish post-production on behalf of Anagram. No official release date has yet been announced.