Af Morten Suhr Hansen
In a world where global streaming giants battle for attention, including in the Danish market, it’s remarkable that a Danish-owned subscription service has managed to carve out a position between Netflix, Spotify, and HBO Max.
Of course, I’m talking about TV 2 Play. With well over 1 million subscribers, they are now close to Netflix in Denmark and ahead of every other streaming service on the market. But how has TV 2 Play managed to build such a strong success? How did they transform from a broadcaster reaching Danes via antenna associations and distributors into a digital direct-to-consumer subscription business? What key decisions shaped their journey, and what can every other subscription company learn from TV 2?
I discussed all this with TV 2’s Chief Commercial Officer, Stig Møller Christensen, in our podcast Subscription Talks. You can listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts, but here are some of the most important insights from our conversation.
TV 2 Play has seen a 25-fold growth in subscribers since 2012
But first, a brief historical overview of TV 2 Play.
TV 2 Play was originally launched as TV 2 Sputnik. This was back in 2004, making it one of the first attempts to deliver live images over the internet (YouTube, for comparison, was launched on February 14, 2005). For many years, Sputnik was allowed to develop at its own pace and functioned as an experimental playground for the development of internet-based TV.
Then in 2012, almost simultaneously with Netflix entering Danish households, Sputnik was relaunched as TV 2 Play, now with the ambition of competing in the streaming market and building a strong alternative to Netflix and others. At that point in 2012, the new TV 2 Play had only about 40,000 paying subscribers, but as the streaming market took off, so did TV 2 Play. The latest public figures from TV 2 confirm that TV 2 Play now has surpassed 1 million subscribers, and according to Stig Møller Christensen, the actual number is now significantly higher.
Impressive, but how did TV 2 Play manage to reach such a high level?
What can others learn from TV 2 Play?
My conversation with Stig Møller Christensen about TV 2 Play covers many topics, but here I have tried to extract some of the most important points and recommendations from the conversation:
1. You must constantly and continuously develop your value proposition to your subscribers
The subscription model behind TV 2 Play has evolved many times since 2012 and is constantly evolving. With and without live TV, with and without ads, with and without the premium sports package. Testing new combinations, bundling with other streaming offers. TV 2 is constantly working to create new value for its subscribers through different subscription offers, both with and without bundling with other companies. According to Stig Møller Christensen, you should constantly review and reassess your value proposition.
2. You must master the subscription toolbox as well as the best in the market
Running a subscription business is hard work and requires digging deep into the subscription toolbox. According to Stig Møller Christensen, TV 2 Play has moved from being hopelessly behind to now running an operation on par with the best performers in the industry. The work with onboarding, engagement, and retention must ensure that you effectively know your customers and your segments and are able to counteract churn.
3. You can’t grow alone. Think in terms of partnership models and distribution collaborations
“The internet is not a friendly place. It’s a place of perfect competition.” This is to the consumer’s advantage, but it places enormous demands on companies that want to sell digitally. This is the conclusion reached by Stig Møller Christensen, who also explains that, alongside building a direct-to-consumer business, TV2 has constantly sought out partnerships and distribution collaborations to expand TV 2 Play even further. Collaborations with traditional TV distributors, telecom companies, and others have led to even greater growth. Even if your business is much smaller than TV 2 Play, think about how you can collaborate to achieve greater distribution.
How should TV 2 Play develop in the future?
But has TV 2 Play reached its goal now? Not at all, according to the CCO. But how should TV 2 Play develop in the coming years? You’ll have to listen to the podcast episode to find out, but don’t be surprised if increased personalization and relevance are among the tools that can still be used.
The bottom line is that TV 2 has impressively succeeded in taking on the competition from the big regional and global giants in the industry. Well done, and a true source of inspiration for any media or subscription business.
Enjoy the full conversation here.
(Note that the podcast is in Danish)
