The launch of ad supported options has led to a record number of paid streaming subscriptions in the Nordic region.
Analysis by the Stockholm-based consultancy Mediavision shows there are now 23 million subscriptions locally. Mediavision’s spring 2025 analysis of the Nordic Streaming and TV market concludes that the strong growth is primarily driven by ad-supported subscription models (HVOD).
In total, the Nordic countries added approximately 3.7 million paid subscriptions during the last 12 months. Sweden leads the Nordic market, both in size and growth. Over the past year alone, more than 2 million new paid subscriptions have been added in Sweden, accounting for more than half of the regional increase.
“We’re witnessing a second wave of growth in the Nordic streaming landscape. The rise of ad-supported streaming subscriptions is expanding the market again, after a few years of modest growth,” says Fredrik Liljeqvist, Senior Analyst at Mediavision.
“Sweden’s year-over-year growth in HVOD is particularly striking. It now stands on par with Denmark and Norway in household penetration, while Finland lags its neighboring countries.”
Ad-supported services contributed to more than half of the added subscriptions, highlighting that consumers are embracing lower-cost options. Despite this, fully paid streaming subscriptions are also seeing continued growth. This is driven by increases to both international players like Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video, as well as local services such as TV2 Denmark, TV2 Norge, TV4, and MTV.
“It’s not just ad-supported models that are thriving. Fully paid services are also growing, just not at the same pace. For example, Netflix is seeing a 10 percent year-on-year increase in household penetration,” Liljeqvist adds. “This demonstrates the on-going overall transformation to streaming.”
Mediavision’s analysis highlights how the Nordic streaming landscape has entered a new phase. The market is increasingly characterised by competition between different types of offers, at varying prices for consumers.
