Approximately 450,000 Swedish households are now paying for a subscription to Disney+, after the streaming service went live in Nordic countries on 15 September, according to consultancy Mediavision. It estimates that more than 10 percent of households in the Nordic region have a Disney+ subscription. Mediavision said its analysis shows that Disney+ has a top position in the regional SVoD market only two weeks after its launch.
Mediavision said it took current market leader Netflix more than a year to attain a subscriber base of similar size. Marie Nilsson, CEO of Mediavision, said the service is backed up by the strong Disney brand, enabling it to make a significant impact on the market rapidly. Pricing is likely to play a role, too, and Disney+ is marketed at a lower price than several competing services.
The rapid growth for Disney+ in the Nordic region shows that the market has matured since the introduction of Netflix in the autumn of 2012, said Mediavision. Consumers today are more familiar with streaming services and have a broader knowledge of how they work.
Mediavision's analysis of the third quarter reveals that Disney's launch has had little impact on the subscriber figures for other services. Nilsson said the arrival of Disney+ has pushed new households to sign up for their first streaming subscription, but also encouraged others to add one more subscription to their bundle. The consequences in terms of household expenditure and competition in the long term are a matter of speculation, said Nilsson.
