Who can challenge Netflix in the Nordics?

YouGov’s latest Global Media Report shows that video streaming services continue to captivate viewers in the Nordics and worldwide. They seem to be tightening their grip in the wake of the pandemic and are likely to register the most significant growth in consumption in the coming year.

However, competition in the Nordic video streaming market is fierce. Alongside national video streaming services led by national broadcasters, several international streaming giants fight for consumers’ time in the Nordics. This makes it interesting to explore the changing consumer attitudes towards the four leading international video streaming services.

Netflix is the most dominant video streaming service in the Nordics. 43% of consumers in the Nordics have watched Netflix in the last 30 days. However, this proportion covers some regional differences. Netflix has an even more solid position in Denmark, where half of the population (50%) have watched Netflix in the last 30 days. Netflix also dominates the video streaming market in Sweden and Norway, where 45% have watched Netflix, while the share is significantly smaller in Finland (32%). In general, international streaming services have a lesser grip on Finnish consumers than in the rest of the Nordic region.

HBO Max and Viaplay are fighting for the second position in Nordics. 21% of consumers have watched HBO Max in the last 30 days, and 20% have watched Viaplay. NENT and Finnish telco Elisa have, in cooperation, launched a service for Finnish viewers called Elisa Viihde Viaplay, which offers Viaplay's original Nordic productions, Hollywood films, and Finnish movies and series. Elisa Viihde Viaplay shares second place with HBO Max in Finland in terms of viewers. Both have had 13% saying they have streamed using their services in the last 30 days.

Disney+ is the newest video streaming service in the Nordic markets, but they are not far behind HBO Max and Viaplay in terms of users. 16% of consumers in the Nordics have used this streaming service. Furthermore, Disney+ has a large audience under the age of 18.

Netflix has the most robust image

The brands above were ranked based on the Index score, a measure of overall brand health calculated by taking the average of Impression, Quality, Value, Satisfaction, Recommend, and Reputation.

Netflix distances itself further from competitors when it comes to having the strongest image and tops the rankings in the Nordics, with a total score of +31.2. At the same time, HBO Max stands on the second step with a score of +16.8. Disney+ takes third place with +15.4.

All the streaming services are doing better when evaluated on the quality they deliver than on the value. Netflix, however, scores exceptionally well on both quality and value. Netflix tops the chart with a score of +33 in quality and +28 in value.

HBO Max performs slightly better than Disney+ with a 19 in quality and 14 in value. At the same time, Viaplay has the lowest score primarily due to how consumers evaluate the streaming service on value, where Viaplay scores +6.

Methodology

Data were drawn from YouGov BrandIndex between January 1, 2022, and March 31st, 2022.

Each day consumers, representative of the population 18+ years old, are asked about consumption and their views on brands across various markets, which allows YouGov to build a picture of how the general public perceives these brands by comparing Index scores – which is a measure of overall brand health calculated by taking the average of Impression, Quality, Value, Satisfaction, Recommend and Reputation by YouGov BrandIndex.

Impression – whether someone has a positive or negative image of a brand

Quality – whether consumers think the brand represents good or poor quality

Value – whether consumers think the brand represents good or poor value for money, not ‘cheap,’ but offers a customer a lot in return for the price paid

Satisfaction – whether someone is a satisfied or dissatisfied customer

Recommend – whether someone would recommend a brand to a friend or not

Reputation – whether someone is proud or embarrassed to work for a brand