The Nordic market is one of the pioneers in terms of streaming, in particular with Viaplay which has been able to resist American streamers. But the arrival of AVOD upsets habits and free services financed by advertising are developing very rapidly. According to Mediavision, AVOD is now the largest category in terms of weekly reach.
Indeed, Mediavision’s Q3 analysis shows that 90% of 15-74 year olds residing in Sweden watch ad-supported videos at least once a week. This figure can be compared to the 75% reach of paid streaming services over the same period (including Viaplay and Netflix among others). Ad-supported services are therefore the category with the highest reach in an average week. Additionally, strong growth has been seen for ad-supported services over the past 12 months.
The growth is mainly driven by social media platforms, with the highest weekly reach recorded for Youtube, Facebook and Instagram. Excluding social media platforms, other ad-supported streaming services reach 61% of all 15-74 year olds per week average. Among these services, Mediavision mentions Pluto TV and Samsung TV Plus, pending the rise of hybrid offers (SAVOD for Subscription AVOD) from Netflix and Disney+.
Figures published by Mediavision indicate that traditional paid SVOD offers are now being challenged by free offers, which are certainly less qualitative, but which have no effect on users’ wallets. It remains to be seen what the consequences of the entry of Netflix and Disney+ into this market are: will 100% free AVOD retain consumer preference or will SAVOD offers manage to find a place for themselves on the market? the market ?