Newsletter October 10: Online casinos growing rapidly, new actors entering the market

10 October 2018

With the upcoming re-regulation of the Swedish gambling market, several currently off-shore regulated actors are expected to establish themselves in Sweden. As the new licensing system is implemented, competition especially in all-online verticals (i e online casinos and poker) is likely to increase even further.

Mediavisions bi-quarterly analysis Swedish Gambling Insight, to be published this week, is pointing at the very rapid growth for online casinos. Currently, online casinos aimed at Swedish consumers are exclusively operated by off-shore regulated actors such as Betsson, Bet365 and Kindred (Unibet parent). Gambling actors regulated by Swedish law are, until the new legislation is put in place, prohibited to run online casinos in Sweden.

Last week it was confirmed that the Swedish horse racing operator ATG is planning an entrance on the online gambling market under the new regulation. ATG has signed deals with gaming solutions suppliers Yggdrasil and Net Ent, as both companies announced in press releases. ATG is compiling its new slate of slots and casino games in time for the market opening on January 1st, 2019.

Zooming in on online casinos specifically, Mediavision concludes that it is one of the fastest growing online gambling verticals. An average month, online casinos attract 400.000 Swedes 18-74 years old, which marks an increase of close to 50% year-on-year. As a comparison, online poker growth is close to 30% YOY.

Gambling reach; YOY growth (%)
With local and off-shore companies acting on equal terms from Jan 1, 2019, the competition for market shares across all verticals is likely to ramp up. Mediavision is following the development closely. Read more about our bi-quarterly analysis here.

Mediavision blogs:

Summer TV viewing and the FIFA WC
As many of us are now returning to work after a splendid summer, we’re taking a quick glance at the development of the 2018 traditional TV viewing so far. It’s of course with a special focus on summer ratings, particularly since Sweden this year outperformed all expectations and made it to the quarter finals in 2018 FIFA World cup in July.

Mediavision press releases:

Sports contributes to increased online TV consumption
When summarizing the second quarter of the year, no decrease in the Swedes appetite for video streaming services is to be seen. Yet again a new record is noted as half of the Swedish households now subscribe to at least one streaming service.

Industry news:

ATG signs with NetEnt and Yggdrasil
Swedish horseracing operator ATG has signed deals with NetEnt and Yggdrasil as it gears up to launch online slots and casino games in conjunction with the upcoming re-regulation of the Swedish market. ATG has also announced Kambi as its sports betting platform provider.

Google Home launching in Scandinavia
Google’s smart speaker Google Home is launching across Scandinavia on October 24th. Overseas Google Home has sold 10 million units. For comparison, Amazon Echo has so far sold about 30 million units.

NRK bets on drama and young viewers
Last week NRK presented its new drama initiative “Lykkeland” which portrays the oil business in Stavanger. NRK’s head of drama Ivar Køhn says that Lykkeland will have a profound effect on NRK’s streaming service and young viewers.

Danish Superliga launches esports league
The top football league in Denmark is launching a FIFA 19 esports league called eSuperliga. The league will be operated by Dreamhack and broadcasted online and on linear TV by Discovery Networks Denmark.

Spotify and Acast join forces
Spotify and Acast are teaming up, making the roughly 2500 podcasts currently available through Acast also available through Spotify. The collaboration aims to strengthen Spotify as a platform for podcast listeners.

Mediavision in the news:

NENT takes on Netflix in battle for Nordic streaming market
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT) hopes to lure investors with robust growth in streaming when it is spun off from Sweden’s MTG next year, betting that its Scandi dramas will help it narrow the gap with market leader Netflix.

Netflix nu mer populärt än SVT Play bland barnfamiljer
Under 2018 skedde ett maktskifte bland streamingtjänsterna på den svenska marknaden. I slutet av 2017 var SVT Play de svenska barnfamiljernas favorit, men under andra kvartalet 2018 bröts dominansen av globala streamingjätten Netflix. Det visar Mediavisions analys Inventory Insights.

Nordic kids choose Netflix over PSBs
Netflix has emerged as the most popular streaming service for children’s and family content in the Swedish TV market, knocking public broadcaster SVT Play into second place.

Industry events

*Events where Mediavision will be presenting