Disney+ is set to launch in the Nordics later this year and is expected to give subscription streaming a renewed boost.
Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland have big subscription VOD markets thanks to their strong broadband infrastructure, populations' English language skills and a high level of disposable income. But Futuresource Consulting in a new report says that consumers in the Nordics are not only subscribing to multiple SVOD services, but also driving a rare return to growth for the transactional video market.
"To see transactional video shifting course and moving into a growth phase is something of a rarity," says Tristan Veale, market analyst at Futuresource. "These countries are expected to be amongst the first markets to experience the reversal, a direct result of changing consumer behavior in the face of COVID-19." He explained that globally "DVD and Blu-ray declines typically tend to outweigh any digital growth.
Nonetheless, SVOD services dominate the market in the Nordics, accounting for 80 percent of the home video spend in 2019, with Netflix, Viaplay and HBO Nordic being the lead services.