Despite efforts, more than three million paid streaming subscriptions are shared in the Nordics, with only a marginal decrease of around 250,000 subscriptions over the past year, said the Swedish media consultancy Mediavision.
As the streaming market matures, services need to find new ways to increase growth. There is significant potential in converting sharers into paying customers. Streaming services have communicated intentions to limit password sharing in the Nordic countries, just as they have in other parts of the world.
Converting shared accounts into paid subscriptions would translate to an increase of three million new subscribers and an increase in revenue “of somewhere between EUR 200–300 million,” said Mediavision. But this estimate is tempered by the likelihood that some of the households facing forced conversion to a paid subscription would instead choose a free ad-supported option or not take the offer at all.
Further reading
Mediavision: Three million SVOD subscriptions are shared in the Nordics. Press release. May 6, 2024. Mediavision
Why it matters
“We can expect further efforts from the industry to combat password sharing,” said Fredrik Liljeqvist, senior analyst at Mediavision. “We can see that hybrid packages with both consumer payment and advertising are starting to find a wider audience here in the Nordics. For many households this may be a way to move from borrowing to becoming a paying subscriber, but it may also mean that today’s full subscribers choose a cheaper option,” he said.
