Gambling companies account for 10% of Swedish TV advertising

Online betting operator Unibet has usurped Sweden’s state-owned betting monopoly as the number one gambling advertiser on Swedish television.

New figures released by Stockholm-based media consultants Mediavision show gambling companies accounted for 10% of all Swedish television ad buys in the first half of 2016, up from just 3% as recently as 2013.

A total of 31 gambling companies, both international and domestic, advertised on Swedish TV in H1 2016, up from 24 in the same period last year and from 20 in H1 2014. International gambling firms account for 75% of current gambling advertising spending, up from 64% in 2013, according to Sweden’s gambling regulator, which helps explain why international operators are growing faster than domestic firms.

Gambling’s increased presence on Swedish telly is all the more impressive given that the Institute for Advertising and Media Statistics believes total TV advertising spending is down by SEK 100m (US $11.8m) over the first seven months of 2016, and the prediction is for a further SEK 100m decline before 2016 is done.