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Industry experts analyse the opportunities and the challenges brought about by the surge in VoD services in the Nordic countries

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- The NAGRA Kudelski webinar saw five panellists discussing audience engagement strategies, growth drivers, consumption trends and marketing content within the regional and international context

Industry experts analyse the opportunities and the challenges brought about by the surge in VoD services in the Nordic countries
Marie Nilsson, CEO and founder of research firm Mediavision AB, presenting one of her slides during the discussion

On 18 November, digital security and convergent media solutions firm NAGRA Kudelski organised a webinar titled “Managing the VoD Explosion: Painful Challenge or Hidden Opportunity?” During the event, five key stakeholders from the European audiovisual industry discussed how the surge in VoD services could boost reach and revenue. The speakers were Svanhild Sørensen, CEO of Norsk Filmdistribusjon; Lars Henriksen, senior distribution manager at True Content Entertainment; Peter Öhman, head of Content & Publishing at SFAnytime; Marie Nilsson, CEO and founder of research firm Mediavision AB; and Tom Jahr, general manager of NAGRA Dvnor. The talk was chaired by Tim Pearson.

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After briefly introducing the panellists, Pearson asked Nilsson to provide an overarching insight into the Nordic market and its most recent developments. The expert opened her contribution by highlighting the sector’s current strong recovery but also predicted a bright future, dominated by “fierce competition and innovation”. She explained that already back in 2012, HBO Max and Netflix had started operations in the Nordic countries, whilst Disney+ reached the area way before it had a presence inLatin America, Japan or South Korea. Despite its limited size (12 million users spread over four countries), the reason why streamers decided to enter the region was its “highly digitalised market”, with “a high broadband penetration averaging 93%-96%”, wherein “75% of the households have at least one digital media subscription active and 60% avail themselves of SVoD services”.

In 2021, the total revenue in the Nordic TV market accounted for €8.3 billion, still led by traditional pay TV (€3 billion) and public service (€2 billion), and followed by standalone SVoD (€1.3 billion), traditional TV advertising (€1.2 billion), TVoD (€400 million) and AVoD (€300 million). On average, a Nordic household’s video content spend is €44 per month (€71 including other media), generating over 80% of the total TV market revenue. Out of this 80%, two-thirds are destined for pay TV and one-third goes towards SVoD, whilst the remaining 20% includes cinema, TVoD and DVD/Blu-ray revenues. In broader terms, Nilsson explained that SVoD has grown very quickly over the last few years but boomed particularly during the pandemic. The growth process, now entering a stabilisation phase, was predominantly driven by penetration and stacking, and the latter rose from 1.5 paid streaming services per household in 2017 to 2.2 in 2021. Currently, the region’s major players are Netflix and Viaplay, followed by HBO Max, Disney+ and Cmore. She disclosed that, in the coming years, Mediavision will look closely at how content production will increase. She added that there are 24,000 unique titles in the Nordics, while old and new players are contributing to building “a golden era for co-productions and creativity”, marked by aggressive policy strategies and, perhaps, a future “consolidation phase”.

Despite the difficulties posed by the numerous market shifts, Henriksen and Sørensen agreed with Nilsson on the fact that it’s a very “exciting time” to be creating and distributing content. On the topic of targeting audiences, Öhman said how difficult it is to compete with the launches organised by the streaming giants; however, no one working in this industry is here because of stability, but rather because they love change: “There’s never been so much attention for paid video content, and there’s room for everyone. As long as the business is growing, it’ll be beneficial for all involved.”

Later, Nilsson added that we are seeing an unprecedented level of quality on TV, but that the current model should move on from a drama series-based one to another led primarily by entertainment, factual programming documentaries and local content. This new focus could ensure the regional market’s growth.

On that topic, Jahr underlined how we’re seeing a huge increase in localising and adapting content, and this is not necessarily being conducted by US studios, but can also come from Spain, South Korea or other countries. These new productions are able to intercept new viewers, as “people have now got more varied interests than ever”, thus opening up new niches to explore for the 5,300 streaming platforms available worldwide.

In spite of all of the predictions and discussions the industry can engage in, Öhman mentioned the example of the “all-time high of ‘harrypotterism’,” a development that could not have been foreseen when the pandemic started, 20 years after the saga’s first film: “What makes this business fascinating is that consumers never do what you expect,” he concluded.

In contrast with the other speakers, Henriksen argued that the highly competitive field would make marketing strategies play an even bigger role, forcing both smaller players and streamers to “rethink how to brand content”. Sørensen agreed with Henriksen and said that marketing titles will require new skills, the key being “not just to put some money in”, whilst Öhman added that it is necessary to find a formula “if not for each genre, at least for each target group” in order not to “waste resources”.

The event was brought to a close by a Q&A session.

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