By Morten Suhr Hansen
A couple of weeks ago, we launched one of this year’s biggest subscription-related announcements here at Subscrybe. We’ve conducted the largest-ever study on the subscription movement across Scandinavia, surveying 1,000 Danes, 1,000 Norwegians, and 1,000 Swedes about their subscription habits and attitudes. How many subscriptions do they have? What do they think about them? And which subscriptions are the most popular in each country?
The results have just been published in the Scandinavian Subscription Survey 2024 report, which you can find right here.
In my previous article, I shared some of the most exciting insights, focusing primarily on the overall results and the state of subscriptions in Denmark. In this article, I’ll dive deeper into comparisons across the three countries. Where are we similar, and perhaps more interestingly, where do we differ?
The subscription movement is thriving across Scandinavia
When it comes to the overall prevalence of subscriptions, the differences between the three countries are minimal. However, our Norwegian friends take the lead as the most subscription-enthusiastic. Norwegian households, on average, have 21 subscriptions, while this number is just under 20 for both Denmark and Sweden.
But how much money do we spend on subscriptions? This is where significant differences emerge. Let’s start with Denmark: Danish households spend an average of DKK 6,509 per month on subscriptions. Norwegians, however, spend NOK 9,555 per month, equivalent to approximately DKK 6,020 at the current exchange rate. These two countries are relatively close in spending, but the picture changes dramatically in Sweden. Swedish households spend an average of SEK 6,598, or just DKK 4,222. Despite having a similar number of subscriptions, Swedish households spend significantly less on them compared to their Danish and Norwegian counterparts.
This disparity may partly be attributed to slightly lower price levels in Sweden than in Denmark and Norway. Regardless, the amount of money spent on subscriptions across Scandinavia is undeniably substantial.
Swedes are the most optimistic about subscriptions
Consumers are well aware of the growing popularity of subscriptions. For example, we asked, “Do you have more subscriptions in your household now than you did five years ago?” Over 50% in all three countries said yes, with Norway leading at 57%.
We also asked whether consumers expect to have even more subscriptions in the future. In Denmark, 47% said yes, as did 48% in Norway. But in Sweden, the figure reached 55%. It will be interesting to see if the Swedes will overtake the other countries in terms of the number of subscriptions per household in the coming years.
One area reveals striking differences
At first glance, there aren’t major differences between the three countries when looking at overall trends. But when we delve deeper into specific industries, significant distinctions become apparent.
We have also taken a closer look at specific industries. One of the intriguing industries we explored was news subscriptions, both print and digital. Unsurprisingly, few consumers expect to subscribe to print newspapers in the future, with only about 10% across the three countries indicating any interest.
So, let’s focus on digital news subscriptions. Danish households, on average, have 0.2 digital news subscriptions, compared to 0.5 in Sweden and 0.9 in Norway. In other words, Norwegian households have 4.5 times as many digital news subscriptions as Danish households, while Swedes have 2.5 times more. And what about the future? Only 15% of Danish households find digital news subscriptions interesting, compared to 21% in Sweden and 41% in Norway.
Clearly, Danish news media face significant challenges if they are to achieve a digital subscription future comparable to their Norwegian and Swedish counterparts.
Dive deeper into the report for more similarities and differences
The above is just a small sample of what you’ll find in our report across the three countries. We explore technical aspects of running a subscription business, such as preferred subscription periods, payment methods, and the impact of free trials on new subscribers. Enjoy exploring the full report!
Finally, a big thank you to the two companies that partnered with us on this study: Billwerk+ and Vipps MobilePay. Both are active in all three Scandinavian countries, and without their support, this would not have been possible.
