Sweden – in common with its Scandinavian neighbours – has long led the OTT charge. SVT, the national broadcaster, launched its first VOD product, SVT Play, in 2007, HBO Nordic and Netflix have been active in the region since 2012, and Disney+ went live last month. Now, the country has a flourishing mix of broadcaster, operator, independent and SVOD-led OTT services, the highest penetration of streaming boxes and sticks in Europe and TV still reaches 93% of the population (as at Sept. 2018) according to MMS, Sweden’s TV viewing and measurements agency.
We talked about some of these developments and trends at OTT Question Time last week where, together with Jenny Englund-Stridh, Head of Video Platforms at SVT, Nicole Ostman, Product Manager at Nordic Entertainment Group and Jonatan Lindgren, Client Director EMEA at Varnish Software, we explored:
- The current state of OTT uptake in Sweden and how this has changed over the past few years
- The effects, if any, of COVID and related lockdowns on VOD viewing
- The broadcaster / operator / service-provider landscape in the country
- The various OTT products available
- And the future of OTT in Sweden
OTT Question Time #19 was streamed live via Zoom at 5pm (CET) on Thursday 8 October.
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ABOUT KAUSER KANJI
Kauser Kanji has been working in online video for 19 years, formerly at Virgin Media, ITN and NBC Universal, and founded VOD Professional in 2011. He has since completed major OTT projects for, amongst others, A+E Networks, the BBC, BBC Studios, Channel 4, DR (Denmark), Liberty Global, Netflix, Sony Pictures, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation and UKTV. He now writes industry analyses, hosts an online debate show, OTT Question Time, as well as its in-person sister event, OTT Question Time Live.