Netflix effect to make Sweden first to pass digital milestone

Digital video revenues is expected to exceed packaged video revenues in Sweden for the first time this year, making it the first country to pass this milestone, according to research by Futuresource Consulting. 

According to Futuresource Consulting, Sweden witnessed a significant shift in consumer behaviour last year, with a dramatic decline in packaged video coupled with a strong uptake in digital services.  According to Futuresource, packaged video spending fell by 24% in the country in 2013, representing 13% of overall video spend last year.

The group now expects digital video revenues to reach €153 million this year, compared with €146 million for packaged revenues, driven by growth for subscription video on demand services such as Netflix.

“2013 saw the first full year of new SVoD services and they quickly picked up a sizable customer base with subscription growing from 4% to 20% of the home video market,” said Joanna Wright, senior market analyst at Futuresource Consulting.

“The new entrants to the SVoD market clearly boosted the awareness of services and helped the market grow, Netflix has been a key driver of this and quickly became market leader.”

The group expects overall video entertainment expenditure in Sweden to reach €1.8 billion by 2018, based on average annual growth of 3% that will primarily be driven by SVoD, although pay TV will continue to account for the lion’s share of the overall total.