Swedish SVOD growth flatlining, says Mediavision

The Swedish SVOD market has “reached maturity”, with negligible growth in subscriber numbers and diminishing evidence of ‘stacking’ of multiple services by consumers, according to a study by local research outfit Mediavision.

According to Mediavision, some 60% of Swedish households subscribed to one paid video streaming service at the end of the first quarter, with growth of about 4% in Q1.

The research outfit said that each SVOD home pays around SEK220 per month in subscriber fees, a number that has not changed significantly over the last year.

The research outfit said that recent launches in the market had no significant impact on overall SVOD penetration or on average spend per household. It said it expected increased competition and growth in services that are partly or fully funded by advertising.

“For some time now, we have seen the Swedish market for SVOD services approaching maturity and during Q1 2022, the signs have become increasingly obvious,” said Marie Nilsson, CEO of Mediavision.

“Several actors are now speaking about shifting strategies, and ad-funded services are expected to boost in the coming years. Especially two cases come to mind; Disney’s plan to add an advertising financed tier to Disney Plus and Netflix’s shift in attitude towards advertising following its latest quarterly report. In addition, the launch of services like Pluto TV is likely to spur this development.”