Streaming surges in Sweden

Further painting a picture of how people have spent their time during the pandemic, analysis and consulting firm Mediavision released numbers today showing that Swedes achieved record-high streaming numbers during Q2 2020.

According to Mediavision – which surveys 3,000 respondents between the ages 15 to 74 each month – Q2 data showed a "daily reach for online video of 66 percent in the age group of 15-74." The firm calls this figure "a historic record level" and a 10 percent increase over the previous year. Saying that Sweden has entered a completely digital TV-market, the data calculates 600,000 new streaming viewers for the year.

Notably, the highest increase was among those aged 65 to 74, likely due to Sweden's pandemic-related restrictions which have mostly focused on the senior population.

In addition to COVID-19 causing more people to stay home streaming the days away, the other contributing factor to the surge, says Mediavision, was an increase in streaming news viewership. Of course, some of this was to do with the continual consumption of pandemic news.

Mediavision highlights this as a notable shift in how content is viewed in Sweden.

"The fact that close to 70% of the Swedish population now views online video daily is a clear sign that we have entered a new era. The market has reached maturity and virtually all people in the ages of 15-74 are now part of the online audience," said Natalia Borelius, senior analyst at Mediavision, in a press release.

The large shift to online streaming should only help further the government's goal for the entire country to be connected to high-speed broadband by 2025, as laid out in its national broadband plan in 2016. According to European Commission, by 2025, "98% of all households and businesses should have access to broadband at a minimum capacity of 1 Gbps. The remaining 1.9% should have access to connections at a minimum capacity of 100 Mbps and 0.1% at a minimum capacity of 30 Mbps."

The most recent FTTH Council Europe report, measuring data between 2015 and 2019, puts Sweden tenth in the top 10 countries for FTTH/B premises passed. Sweden ranked in third place for its penetration rate (56.8 percent) as of September 2019, with highest market penetration among business subscribers.

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— Nicole Ferraro, contributing editor, Light Reading