Web and Mobile TV buzz spreading in Sweden

Mobile and Web TV have made their big breakthrough in major cities and the nationwide media, but there are still markets with room for growth. Qbrick, a leading provider of Internet TV services, sees that in Sweden the local press is now also expanding their TV offerings via the web and mobile phones.

Helsingborgs Dagblad, the leading local newspaper in northwest Skåne with the largest website in the region, has been offering video on the web since 2007. Now the paper will launch an advertising solution for its Web TV service and is considering offering Mobile TV as well.

“We provide local news, and the demand for video has grown sharply. During the first six months of the year, the number of Web TV viewers on our site grew by 50% compared with the same period in 2009,” says Helsingborgs Dagblad publisher Sören Karlsson.

NTM, Norrköpings Tidningar Media AB, has been a Qbrick customer since 2005 and has just renewed its contract.

“We’re not there right now, but in the long term I think that Web TV will be a mass medium just like TV is today,” says Jörgen Bengtsson, director of digital media development for Norrköpings Tidningar Media AB. “The NTM Group uses Qbrick’s streaming service because it’s stable and has proven it can handle sudden traffic peaks with no problems.”

Web and Mobile TV in the rest of the world

Several recently published reports demonstrate that Web TV is currently experiencing a major breakthrough, not just in Sweden where advertising expenditures will rise by 130% this year according to IRM's latest forecast, but in the rest of the world as well, where Cisco Visual Networking predicts that Web TV will reach one billion viewers worldwide in the last quarter of 2010.  Mobile TV has also experienced great growth. 71 million Europeans use their mobile phones to surf the Internet for an average of 6.4 hours a week, nearly 2 hours more than they spend reading newspapers. These figures were reported by the EIAA in their latest Mediascope Europe 2010 report. The report also states that 32% of Europeans watch TV, movies and video clips on their mobile devices. In this category Sweden stands out as it’s twice as common to watch Mobile TV here.

“The industry is showing impressive figures, and they are definitely reflected in our business,” said Qbrick CEO Eric Matsgård. “We’re especially pleased to have so many Swedish customers and projects, since Sweden is clearly a trend-setter and early adopter when it comes to Mobile and Web TV. Qbrick is competitive because we’re local, enabling us to provide what is demonstrably the best quality streaming media in the Nordic countries. The natural next step for us would be to take this knowledge and solid experience into the rest of Europe, where the market is going to explode within the next few years. ”

Local newspapers that are currently working with Qbrick on their Web and Mobile TV ventures include Helsingborgs Dagblad, Norrköpings Tidningar, Folkbladet (Norrköping), Västerviks-Tidningen, Norrbottens-Kuriren, Norrländska Socialdemokraten, Gotlands Allehanda, GotlandsTidningar and Östgöta Correspondenten. Qbrick’s nationwide and niche newspaper customers include Sydsvenskan, Dagens Industri, Svenska Dagbladet, E24, Resume, Expressen and Aftonbladet.

During the spring Qbrick signed up a large number of new Web and Mobile TV customers, and it sees potential in the expanding market for these fast-growing media channels in the other Nordic countries and in Europe.

For further information
Eric Matsgård, CEO, 46 708 224509, eric.matsgard@qbrick.com

For press material and photographs
press@qbrick.com

About Qbrick

Qbrick is the leading provider of Web and Mobile TV in Scandinavia. The company was established in 1999 and has since then confirmed its position as a provider of turnkey solutions for the company’s approximately 1,500 customers, which operate mainly within segments such as TV channels, radio stations, media, advertising agencies and production companies, as well as major companies, municipalities and government departments. Qbrick has 50 employees with offices in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and Oslo. This year the company will have a turnover of approximately MSEK 84 through organic growth. The company is owned by its founders, the staff and a few long-term external investors.
Visit www.qbrick.com for further information about the company.

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