Maria Dunleavey, research manager and Nordic specialist at Ampere Analysis, outlines how the Nordic market is surviving – and maybe even thriving – despite the commissioning downturn at the global streamers.

Maria Dunleavey

The Nordics have been through a slowdown in commissioning activity recently, largely driven by the streamers. All commissioners have become more discerning in the titles they have greenlit since the global market peak in Q1 and Q2 of 2023, Ampere Analysis tells C21, sharing the company’s year-to-date Nordic status.

“The commissioning activity of the streamers is reduced, though the Nordics remain a key market so all the major streamers that were engaged in commissioning in the Nordics continue to do so – particularly Netflix and Amazon – albeit with a greater focus on potential ROI and the portability of content internationally,” says Ampere’s research manager and Nordic specialist, Maria Dunleavey.

“Fortunately, Nordic content – particularly crime and thriller titles – remains popular outside their home territories.”

Consequently, US streaming giants continue to invest in Nordic content to support their international growth strategies in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. In March, Netflix announced 26 upcoming Nordic titles to premiere throughout the year. Season four of Pørni launched on August 8 and Baby Fever season 2 launched on August 22.

“Netflix has announced more Nordic titles, with Norwegian drama series Billionaire Island, created by the team behind Lilyhammer, released in September and Swedish series The Helicopter Heist premiering in November, as well as announcing two new Swedish films, Trustor and Off Track 2,” Dunleavey says.

Season four of Pørni launched on August 8

In addition, Amazon Prime Video acquired nine Viaplay Originals earlier this year and Max recently signed a contract partnership with SF Studios.

The production industry experienced a significant drop in volume during 2022/23, but the Scandinavian Screenings conference in late May demonstrated that new scripted Nordic shows are being pitched and commissioned by national broadcaster-streamers such as NRK, SVT, DR, YLE, TV2 Denmark, MTV Finland and more.

“Commissioning by local players remains strong, while it is lower than during the ‘peak TV’ period, it remains higher than pre-Covid times,” according to Dunleavey.

At the Scandinavian Screenings in Copenhagen in May, some 30 upcoming unofficial projects showcased creative developments in Nordic genres and stories.

“We saw impressive variety in genres and stories. That said, crime remains a dominating genre – no surprise – our special brand, Nordic Noir crime, in many variants, was very present in the programme,” DR Sales’ executive director Pernille Munk Skydsgaard told Nordisk Film & TV Fond (NFTVF).

The Danish industry recently welcomed a new CEO for the Danish Producers’ Association, Anna Porse Nielsen. The sector hoped to recapture the dynamics and output of the golden years while navigating technology, legal intricacies – and politics, she said.

“I am sure that the Danish and Nordic market will recuperate and grow to its full potential, financially and creatively, while tackling changing market conditions.”

That said, one key regional streamer, Viaplay, is still adjusting to a strategic shift that emphasises entertainment formats and live sports, combined with stronger action against password sharing.

Baby Fever season two was released in August

“Following the company’s restructuring, Viaplay also began rolling out advertising-supported tiers across the Nordic markets this summer,” Dunleavey said. Ad-supported tiers offer significant savings. Beginning with Denmark, Viaplay’s hybrid tier was launched in June at DKK99/month, saving a third of the cost of the existing ad-free Movies & Series tier.

The Nordic markets were among the first in Europe to access the new Max service from US studio Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), combining content from HBO Max, Discovery+ and Eurosport and launching late May.

“The launch was just in time for the streamer to host the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, for which Warner Bros Discovery had the primary broadcast rights in Europe,” Dunleavey adds, emphasising that sports rights – not locally scripted content – is Max’s key selling point.

WBD is extending its exclusive Wimbledon rights in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland, the prestigious tennis tournament will play out on Max in these territories, with DR retaining the rights in Denmark until 2026.

Ampere Analytic underscores that crackdowns on password sharing are a growing trend for streamers and are about to hit the Nordic consumers with full impact. Viaplay and Disney are taking a cue from Netflix and have announced intentions to implement a full global account-sharing crackdown in this month.

“Nordic consumers who are currently borrowing passwords won’t be able to do so for much longer,” Dunleavey predicts.

Streaming services have already introduced some measures to counteract password sharing in the Nordics, but the phenomenon is widespread. More than three million SVoD subscriptions in the region are shared, down by only around 250,000 over the past year.

A conversion of all shared subs would mean a windfall of three million new paid subscriptions in the Nordics. Theoretically, that would likely equal a revenue increase across the region of between €200m (US$215m) and €300m, according to Fredrik Liljeqvist, senior analyst at Mediavision.

Maria Dunleavey, research manager and Nordic specialist at Ampere Analysis, outlines how the Nordic market is surviving – and maybe even thriving – despite the commissioning downturn at the global streamers.

Maria Dunleavey

The Nordics have been through a slowdown in commissioning activity recently, largely driven by the streamers. All commissioners have become more discerning in the titles they have greenlit since the global market peak in Q1 and Q2 of 2023, Ampere Analysis tells C21, sharing the company’s year-to-date Nordic status.

“The commissioning activity of the streamers is reduced, though the Nordics remain a key market so all the major streamers that were engaged in commissioning in the Nordics continue to do so – particularly Netflix and Amazon – albeit with a greater focus on potential ROI and the portability of content internationally,” says Ampere’s research manager and Nordic specialist, Maria Dunleavey.

“Fortunately, Nordic content – particularly crime and thriller titles – remains popular outside their home territories.”

Consequently, US streaming giants continue to invest in Nordic content to support their international growth strategies in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. In March, Netflix announced 26 upcoming Nordic titles to premiere throughout the year. Season four of Pørni launched on August 8 and Baby Fever season 2 launched on August 22.

“Netflix has announced more Nordic titles, with Norwegian drama series Billionaire Island, created by the team behind Lilyhammer, released in September and Swedish series The Helicopter Heist premiering in November, as well as announcing two new Swedish films, Trustor and Off Track 2,” Dunleavey says.

Season four of Pørni launched on August 8

In addition, Amazon Prime Video acquired nine Viaplay Originals earlier this year and Max recently signed a contract partnership with SF Studios.

The production industry experienced a significant drop in volume during 2022/23, but the Scandinavian Screenings conference in late May demonstrated that new scripted Nordic shows are being pitched and commissioned by national broadcaster-streamers such as NRK, SVT, DR, YLE, TV2 Denmark, MTV Finland and more.

“Commissioning by local players remains strong, while it is lower than during the ‘peak TV’ period, it remains higher than pre-Covid times,” according to Dunleavey.

At the Scandinavian Screenings in Copenhagen in May, some 30 upcoming unofficial projects showcased creative developments in Nordic genres and stories.

“We saw impressive variety in genres and stories. That said, crime remains a dominating genre – no surprise – our special brand, Nordic Noir crime, in many variants, was very present in the programme,” DR Sales’ executive director Pernille Munk Skydsgaard told Nordisk Film & TV Fond (NFTVF).

The Danish industry recently welcomed a new CEO for the Danish Producers’ Association, Anna Porse Nielsen. The sector hoped to recapture the dynamics and output of the golden years while navigating technology, legal intricacies – and politics, she said.

“I am sure that the Danish and Nordic market will recuperate and grow to its full potential, financially and creatively, while tackling changing market conditions.”

That said, one key regional streamer, Viaplay, is still adjusting to a strategic shift that emphasises entertainment formats and live sports, combined with stronger action against password sharing.

Baby Fever season two was released in August

“Following the company’s restructuring, Viaplay also began rolling out advertising-supported tiers across the Nordic markets this summer,” Dunleavey said. Ad-supported tiers offer significant savings. Beginning with Denmark, Viaplay’s hybrid tier was launched in June at DKK99/month, saving a third of the cost of the existing ad-free Movies & Series tier.

The Nordic markets were among the first in Europe to access the new Max service from US studio Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), combining content from HBO Max, Discovery+ and Eurosport and launching late May.

“The launch was just in time for the streamer to host the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, for which Warner Bros Discovery had the primary broadcast rights in Europe,” Dunleavey adds, emphasising that sports rights – not locally scripted content – is Max’s key selling point.

WBD is extending its exclusive Wimbledon rights in Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland, the prestigious tennis tournament will play out on Max in these territories, with DR retaining the rights in Denmark until 2026.

Ampere Analytic underscores that crackdowns on password sharing are a growing trend for streamers and are about to hit the Nordic consumers with full impact. Viaplay and Disney are taking a cue from Netflix and have announced intentions to implement a full global account-sharing crackdown in this month.

“Nordic consumers who are currently borrowing passwords won’t be able to do so for much longer,” Dunleavey predicts.

Streaming services have already introduced some measures to counteract password sharing in the Nordics, but the phenomenon is widespread. More than three million SVoD subscriptions in the region are shared, down by only around 250,000 over the past year.

A conversion of all shared subs would mean a windfall of three million new paid subscriptions in the Nordics. Theoretically, that would likely equal a revenue increase across the region of between €200m (US$215m) and €300m, according to Fredrik Liljeqvist, senior analyst at Mediavision.