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.
The Nordic TV and video market has shown steady growth since 2021, following the pandemic. Growth is projected to have continued also this year, with total Nordic revenues expected to reach EUR 9.8 billion for 2023. The video market has grown by two percent yearly over the past four years and according to estimates made by Mediavision, the revenues will exceed EUR 10 billion in 2024. The Nordic video market is resilient and has gone through a strong digital transformation. Growth in digital revenues has counterbalanced a weakened broadcast TV market.
The total Nordic video market is expected to reach EUR 9.8 billion for the full year of 2023. The total market has grown two percent yearly over the past four years, excluding currency effects (fixed to 2019). If this growth rate remains, the market will surpass EUR 10 bill in 2024. The Nordic video market includes both advertising and paid subscriptions for broadcast and online, as well as cinema and public service.
Digital video services such as SVOD (subscription video on demand), TVOD (digital rental video) and AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) have all grown 10 percent yearly over the past four years. Growth has more than compensated for the two percent yearly decline in traditional broadcast TV revenues during the same period. The findings are presented by Mediavision and based on consumer research, market data and company reports.
The transformation to digital is also reflected in the development of revenue shares. The total broadcast revenue has declined from 50 percent in 2019, to 44 percent 2023. Cinema’s drop is explained by the significant decline during the pandemic.
– The Nordic video market is still going strong, mainly driven by consumers’ great interest in new digital services, comments Fredrik Liljeqvist, senior analyst at Mediavision. Despite a weakened general economy and a feeble advertising market, revenues are increasing. The number of paid streaming subscriptions is increasing and is now approaching a total of 20 million in the Nordics. Also, for the first time, we can now see that online viewing exceeds viewing of traditional TV on a Nordic aggregated level.