Swedish household spending on media increased in the first quarter of 2023

Nowadays, more than 90% of households in Sweden pay for some form of media subscription. Despite rising interest rates, inflation and increased financial strain, there appear to be no signs of saturation in paid media, according to Mediavision's latest analysis. Quite the opposite, there is a new record level for the households' total media expenditure. Households pay the most for TV and streaming subscriptions, the study said.

In the first quarter of 2023, a household in Sweden paid an average of SEK 807 per month for media services. Seen over a year, this means that households spend close to SEK 10.000 on media. The sum includes both subscriptions and individually purchased media. In other words, everything from Netflix subscriptions to audiobooks, Spotify, cinema tickets, gaming and newspapers are included – both paper and digital. Over the past year, Mediavision noted an increase in household media spend of 5%. The increasing strain on the household economy thus does not seem to have affected the willingness to pay.

Viewed across the various types of media, TV and video streaming are by far the biggest categories. According to Mediavision, this is partly explained by the fact that Swedish households have acquired more services. More than half of the average household's media budget goes to TV and video streaming, after a growth of 9% in the last 12 months. However, payment for audiobooks and podcasts has also grown.

“Despite these challenging times, we can see that households in Sweden stay loyal to their media purchases. And not only that, but the analysis also shows that households today pay for more media subscriptions than ever before. Just as we have noted during other economic downturns, media plays a very important role in our everyday lives. Maybe even to the extent that media services become extra important when other things have to be cut back,”  commented Marie Nilsson, CEO of Mediavision.