If a nutshell description of the average Swedish gambling customer could be made, it would necessarily include the important fact that the country’s gambling demographic is mainly comprised of tech-savvy members/active mobile users/people who are keen to deploy innovation in different aspects of their lives. If a nutshell overview of the Swedish gambling industry could be made, it would necessarily contain the important piece of information that appetite for innovation and diversity in poker, casino, sports betting, and other types of gambling offering never stops growing there.
Otherwise said, Sweden’s gambling market is one with great potential and serious likelihood for both established operators and newcomers in the field to secure further profitability and enjoy ever-increasing demand for their products.
Advertising has always been among gambling companies’ best friends and most powerful tools for promoting and popularizing their brands. A recent report compiled and published by Stockholm-based media consultant Mediavision showed that operators providing their gambling options in Sweden consider advertising, and TV advertising, to be more precise, an important means for informing local players about what they offer and how they offer it.
According to the results posted, the amount of gambling-oriented TV advertising content increased significantly during the six months ended June 30, 2016 as compared to the same period of the previous year. What is more, it is also important to note that foreign operators that offered gambling products within Sweden’s borders were actually the ones to have invested the most in TV advertising not only during the first half of 2016 but also over the past several years.
For people with broader knowledge of the state of Sweden’s TV advertising market, Mediavision’s findings may have come as a bit of a surprise. However, for people informed about gambling industry’s approaches to advertising, these results are barely news.
According to figures posted by the Institute for Advertising and Media Statistics (IRM, institutet för reklam- och mediestatistik), the Swedish TV advertising market experienced a considerable drop of more than SEK250 million in 2015. A decrease was also registered in 2014, and preliminary estimates show that 2016 will not be any different. During the seven months ended July 31, 2016, investments in TV advertising declined by almost SEK100 million as compared to the same period of the previous year.
As Mediavision noted in its report, the fact that there is a general decrease in the number of people who watch television on a regular basis is probably the main reason for the downward trends mentioned above. The decline in TV viewing, especially among younger viewers, has resulted in quite a lot of advertisers directing their efforts and finances to other channels, ones more popular with representatives of the younger generations.
However, its seems that gambling operators have not been scared by the declines. Quite the contrary, they have been investing heavily in advertising on Swedish television, which has turned them into major revenue source for the country’s commercial broadcasters.
As reported by Mediavision, gambling companies, both foreign and local ones, account for 10% of all commercials seen on Swedish television. In comparison, operators held a 3% share of TV advertising back in 2013. Although native operators also have been relying heavily on television to promote their offering, the substantial increase in figures came from international gambling companies. Commercials by those now account for 75% of all ads broadcast on Swedish TV.
A rise was also registered in the number of operators advertising on Swedish TV during the first half of the year. There were 31 of them to advertise different types of gambling offering during the period in review, compared to 24 for the same six months of 2015.
According to Mediavision’s report, online gambling operator Unibet has been the one to invest the most in TV advertising over the first six months of the year. The company has even replaced Svenska Spel, the local state-managed gambling operator, as the biggest advertiser of gambling offering. It turns out that Unibet’s efforts were not in vain as it currently has more active Swedish players in the casino, poker, and sports betting sectors than any other foreign operator to be providing its products within the country’s borders.
A recent report by Casino News Daily dwelt upon a similar trend in the UK. Here is is important to note that the British gambling market was regulated years ago, which makes it much more different than the Swedish one in terms of how gambling companies provide their services.
However, as it could be seen, UK-facing operators have spent billions of pounds on TV advertising over the past several years. Such serious investment can only be undertaken for a good reason. In other words, operators clearly consider television an effective means for promoting their products and drawing players’ attention.
Sweden has been among the countries most heavily scolded by the European Commission for not regulating its gambling market in a manner that would break the long-standing Svenska Spel monopoly and would open it for international operators.
The country’s government is now carrying out a comprehensive review of the current state of the gambling market and whether it would be sustainable for new regulations to be introduced. The study is expected to be completed and made public by the end of the year. In 2017, legislators are to come up with a new bill that would set the necessary regulations and standards, under which foreign operators would be admitted into the country. Thus, in the best-case scenario, Sweden will re-regulate its gambling market and legally open it for operators (and providers, for that matter) as early as 2018.
Bearing in mind the above information, the TV advertising activity that has been registered in the country in regards to gambling advertising could be explained with the fact that international gambling companies are preparing themselves for their future official entrance into the country. In other words, they are securing brand awareness and with that, bigger share in the market, once it becomes regulated.
According to industry experts, the Swedish gambling market is one with great potential and will certainly attract big industry names when the necessary regulations are implemented. Until then, such big industry names will be operating in the gray zone and will probably be registering wider TV advertising activity. Whether the upward trend in gambling advertising will be maintained once the market is regulated or gambling companies that have already introduced themselves to local customers and have gained considerable player bases will look for other marketing channels is a topic that deserves to be paid more special attention to when the time for this comes.
