Paid streaming with ads growing strongly in Norway

Mediavision: HVOD continues to grow strongly in Norway

Paid streaming subscriptions with ads, also known as HVOD (Hybrid Video on Demand), continue to grow rapidly in Norway. Several streaming services have launched such subscriptions over the past year. Currently, nearly 600,000 households in Norway have such subscription.

This type of subscription, which includes ads, is offered at a lower price, making it attractive to many Norwegian households.

“Streaming subscriptions with ads continue to show strong growth in Norway during the fall of 2024. The low price seems to appeal to an increasing number of households, both in Norway and across the Nordic region,” says Marie Nilsson, CEO of Mediavision.

Nearly 600,000 households in Norway report having at least one paid streaming subscription with ads. Compared to Q3 2023, this number has more than doubled. Norway is at the forefront in the Nordic region in this area. Growth can partly be explained by the increased availability and bundled offers through operators and distributors.

“The strong growth for hybrid subscriptions is naturally driven by the fact that more services have launched such offers. We also see that hybrid subscriptions are being bundled with other services, especially through operators or distributors. The range of hybrid subscriptions combined with other services is extensive in Norway,” says Marie Nilsson.

Today, four out of the five biggest streaming services in Norway offer hybrid subscriptions. However, market leader Netflix has not yet launched such subscription in the Nordics and has also stated that it has no intentions to do so in the near future.

In recent years, growth for fully consumer-paid subscriptions has stagnated. To reignite growth in the market, several services have launched hybrid subscriptions, which provides a new revenue stream through advertising while reducing consumer prices. So far, it seems that ads have not negatively affected interest among Norwegian households.

“Norwegian households do not seem to be put off by ads in streaming. Consumers are used to ads, especially from the time before streaming, when traditional TV dominated. The introduction of hybrid subscriptions can in some ways be compared to a comeback for traditional TV, precisely because of ad revenues. There are many signs of continued growth for hybrid subscriptions in the future,” concludes Marie Nilsson, CEO of Mediavision.