Kathy Gibson reports from the Ericsson Business Innovation Forum in Stockholm – The television and media industry is undergoing rapid change, driven by digitalisation.
Eva Hamilton, CEO of Swedish Public Service Television, outlines how the broadcaster has adapted to a changing market.
Swedish public television was previously a monopoly, until 2000, when competition opened up and a variety of channels became available.
The competitive landscape, however, is so much wider than this, she says, with a variety of media now offering users information and entertainment.
To compete in this environment, Hamilton says, SVT has to offer products in both the traditional broadcast world and the online medium.
These offerings include channels, sites, programmes and interactive platforms for different audiences, moving SVT well beyond its role of broadcaster.
The first warning sign that the audience was changing started with the news, Hamilton says, with the age of news watchers quickly rising. In 2008, 56% of news watchers was older than 60, rising to 61% in 2003 and set to hit 70% by 2020.
The second warning sign was the toddler, she adds. With toddlers now accessing tablets, with 48% of two-year-olds now on the Internet daily. And by the time they are five years old, children are spending about three hours per day using some kind of technology.
In its journey to the new world, SVT started offering news on SVT Play in 2006. “We saw it was a popular service, easy to understand and navigate,” Hamilton says, Currently, about 27% of the population accesses SVT Play at least once a week.
In fact, SVT Play is one of the main reasons that Sweden is one of the most broadband-penetrated companies in the world, she adds.
This is not to discount the value of television, though. While users of new services is growing, television has not lost much ground.
SVT is emulating companies like US-based Maker by identifying talented contributors to YouTube and translating them to the broad-based platform.
“In order to not be devoured, you need to think about a few offerings,” Hamilton says. These include searchability within the offering; open Internet. Which is currently under threat; and a common public space such as that provided by the media.
“I strongly believe that someone – the public broadcaster or someone else – has to take responsibility beyond market share and coverage,” she says, adding that the public space is fundamental for democracy to work.