Read up on the full press release with commentary from Mediavision’s senior analyst Natalia Borelius here.

First, Podimo signed an exclusive deal with former P3 (Denmark) profiles Esben Bjerre and Peter Falktoft. Their podcast “Her går det godt” will henceforth only be available to subscribers to Podimo, starting February 1st . Podimo has a subscription price of DKK 59 per month.

In Norway, Story House Egmont entered a podcast partnership with Podimo. The first podcast to be released through this cooperation is the true crime series “Med trang til å drepe” from Vi Menn.

Perhaps to be considered as a counter move to Podimo’s progress in Norway, NRK now says that they are considering making its library content exclusive to the NRK Radio app.

In Sweden, one of the most popular podcasters has decided to shift business partners. “Framgångspodden”, hosted by Alexander Pärleros – has picked Acast as its new podcast partner, thereby leaving Bauer Media. This means that the podcast now has access to Acast’s full offering, including hosting and distribution to marketing, format development and sales. “Framgångspodden” was first launched back in 2015, and the press release from Acast states that the podcast has over 2 million monthly listeners.

APPLE

Apple announced financial results for its fiscal 2022 first quarter ended December 25th, 2021.

The company recorded all-time high revenues of USD 123.9 billion, up 11% year-over-year and posted a net quarterly profit of USD 34.6 billion, up 25% year-over-year.

Service revenues (including e.g., Apple Music and Apple TV Plus) amounted to USD 19.52 billion, up 24% year-over-year. The company also disclosed “the subscription number for the total number of subscriptions” which amounted to 785 million at the end of the quarter – but did not reveal a specific subscriber count for Apple TV Plus.

AT&T

– Q4 2021
AT&T reported consolidated revenues of USD 41 billion, down 10.4% year-over-year – reflecting the impact of divested businesses (mainly U.S. Video in Q3 and Vrio in Q4), but decreases were partially offset by higher revenues from Warner Media. AT&T reported an operating income of USD 5.3 billion versus a loss of USD 10.7 billion in Q4 2020.

– Full-Year 2021
For the full year of 2021, AT&T reported consolidated revenues of USD 168.9 billion, compared to USD 171.8 billion in 2020 – reflecting the separation of the U.S Video business.
Operating income amounted to USD 23.3 billion, compared to USD 6.4 billion in the year prior.

– Warner Media
Total global HBO Max and HBO subscribers amounted to 73.8 million at the end of Q4 2021, up 13.1 million year-over-year. Total subscriber additions were driven by international markets, which more than offset weaker domestic performance (the recent termination of its Amazon Channels partnership is still having a residual impact). The media segment recorded USD 9.9 billion in revenues, up 15.4% year over year. Going forward, management believes that Netflix’s price hike in the US puts HBO Max into a better position competitively.

WarnerMedia is soon to be part of Discovery – management now expects the deal to close in Q2, rather than mid-2022 as previously forecasted.

COMCAST

The company reported revenues for Q4 2021 of USD 30.34 billion, up 9.5% compared year-over-year.

Comcast owned NBCUniversal’s ad-supported streaming platform Peacock had 24.5 million monthly active accounts at the end of 2021. Among the monthly active users are more than 9 million paying subscribers, approaching USD 10 in paid average revenue per user (ARPU), including advertising. Comcast further intend to double its’ spend on programming on Peacock this year – to a total of more than USD 3 billion.

ELISA

The company reported revenues of EUR 536 million in Q4 2021, an increase of EUR 37 million year-over-year. The camLine acquisition, Elisa Viihde Viaplay cooperation and growth in mobile revenue were cited as primary driving forces for growth. Management also highlighted the 5G business growth as a prime success in the quarter, as Elisa’s 5G coverage expanded from 2 million to over 4 million Finns in over 150 locations in 2021.

TELE2

Revenues in Q4 2021 increased to SEK 7.03 billion from SEK 6.88 billion, year-over-year. Total revenues increased by 2% on an organic basis. Tele2 AB reported underlying EBITDA of SEK 2.4 billion in Q4, an increase of 1% organically compared year-over-year. The increase was driven by end-user service revenue growth and cost savings related to the Business Transformation Program, but partly offset by higher commercial spending. End-user service revenue amounted to SEK 4.9 billion, up 2% on an organic basis – attributed to strong performance in the Baltics and slight tailwind from roaming.

TELIA

– Q4 2021 Consolidated Results
Telia reported a decrease of net sales by 0.4% in Q4 2021 compared year-over-year, to a total of SEK 23.380 million (23.464). Service revenues also decreased, by 1.7% to a total of SEK 19,420 million (19.765). Following, total net income amounted to SEK 1.185 million (-24,474).

– Full-Year 2021 Consolidated Results
For the full year of 2021, Telia reported a net sales decline of 1% to a total of SEK 88.343 million. Service revenues decreased 2.8% to a total of SEK 75.180 million (77.342). Total net income amounted to SEK 11.836 million.

Telia also concluded several divestments in 2021. Telia Carrier was sold to Polhem Infra, and a 49% stake in Telia’s towers business in Finland and Norway was acquired by investment firm Brookfield and pension fund Alecta. Further, Telia announced last Thursday that it has sold a 49% stake also in its Swedish towers business to Brookfield and Alecta, in a deal valued at SEK 5.5 billion.

– TV & Media
Telia’s business unit Tv & Media is made up of e.g., TV4 (SE), C More and MTV (FI).

In Q4 2021, net sales for the unit increased 11% year-over-year to SEK 2.6 million (2.3). Service revenues, like for like, increased 11.3% – explained by an 11.3% increase in TV revenues and a 11.6% increase in advertising revenues. Direct subscriptions video-on-demand (SVOD) increased by 30.000 in the quarter.

For the full year of 2021, the TV & Media business unit reported net sales of approximately SEK 8.6 billion, up 16.4% compared year-over-year.

”Spotifys förflyttning berör hela branschen” – SVD

Därför kom Clubhouse-hysterin för ett år sedan – och därför dog den – SR

Hushållen tecknar fler abonnemang – rekordsiffror för S-SVOD under 2021 – Dagens Media

Swedish SVOD growth dominated by sub stacking in record revenue year – Digital TV Europe

Her er er de nye strømmevinnerne – Kampanje 

HBO enjoys major growth in the Nordics and adds over 635,000 subscribing households following Max launch – Cineuropa 

HBO adds +635 000 subscribing households following Max launch – Helsinki Times 

HBO Max bounceback adds 635,000 Nordic subs – Broadband TV News 

HBO Max attracts 635,000 subscribers in Nordic region since launch – Telecompaper