Piracy has been a major challenge in the Nordic region for many years and 2021 is no different. New figures from Mediavision show that even though the supply of legal online video services has increased, piracy is still high.
According to research from Mediavision 14% of all people 15-74 years old in the Nordics have illegally streamed or downloaded films and TV episodes in the past month. This is on average in the Nordics, and the figures vary between the countries. Piracy in Sweden is highest at 17% and lowest in Finland and Denmark, both at 12%. In total this amounts to approximately 2.9 million pirates in the Nordics. Almost half of these pirates are from Sweden.
– Streaming has been a big challenge for rightsholders in the Nordics for many years. There are almost 22 000 titles currently available to Nordic consumers via legal online video services. Still, many choose to use illegal sources to access content, says Natalia Borelius, senior analyst at Mediavision. This shows that availability is not the only issue when it comes to piracy. Other measures may be needed if these figures are to be brought down.
Podcast listening in Sweden is stable. That is concluded in Mediavision’s Q1 analysis, where weekly reach amounts to a little above 50 percent. This figure is in line with past quarters and infer that close to 4 million 15-74-year-olds listen to some form of podcast content an average week. Nevertheless, little is financed by consumer payments today.
Interest in podcasts is great in Sweden. Approximately 50 percent of all 15-74-year-olds, 3.8 million, listen to podcasts an average week. A third of those, listen an average day. Less frequent listening is a result of podcasts commonly being published within weekly intervals. As for any other digital media, young people make up the largest share of the audience. Among 15-34-year-olds, weekly reach for podcasts is close to 70 percent in the first quarter.
In general, the podcast market is advertising or public service funded. Mediavision’s analysis concludes that households today devote less than 1 percent of the total media spend on podcasts (via one-off donations/payments or service specific subscriptions). Comparably, music streaming accounts for approximately 10 percent of household media spend, and audio books close to 5 percent.
– In a very short time, podcasts have become highly popular among listeners in Sweden. The fact that half of the population listens to podcasts an average week, make up a solid foundation for strong growth in advertising, comments Marie Nilsson, CEO of Mediavision. As opposed to other streaming media, a pay market for podcasts seems to be far off. This will have an impact on content going forward, but probably also play a part in what actors will lead the development.