Presented by: Mattias Wallström, Head of live sports and sport rights, Bonnier News Local
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November 27, 2024 Case no.17
Improving subscriber retention:
Driving loyalty through streaming live local elite sports at Bonnier News
Football, basketball, ice hockey, skiing or bandy. Bonnier News in Sweden offers unique live video feeds of local sports to subscribers. Local news brands in the group offer different streams of sports in lower as well as higher divisions in cooperation with leagues and clubs. The future looks bright with growing audiences and new technology is improving quality and reducing costs. In this case we’ll find out how the Bonnier team is leveraging the live sports rights they’ve acquired in collaboration with two other local media groups, to keep sports fans as loyal subscribers. Local sports have the power to bring communities together, creating shared experiences that transcend the playing field.
Presented by Mattias Wallström, Head of live sports and sport rights at Bonnier News Local, based in Östersund in Sweden
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By Niklas Jonason
Article Summary
Bonnier News has improved subscriber engagement by streaming live local sports, positioning these events as "fireside content" that connects communities and drives loyalty. By focusing on second-tier leagues and niche sports like floorball and “folkraces”, the Swedish media group taps into audiences’ deep emotional ties to local teams. This strategy not only retains existing subscribers but also attracts younger audiences, with sports viewers exhibiting higher loyalty compared to typical customers.
Collaboration has been a cornerstone of Bonnier’s success with streaming sports. By partnering with competitors, Bonnier has extended its reach across Sweden, enabling joint investments in sports rights and greater content distribution. Their integrated approach, combining pre- and post-game coverage with engaging live streams, has enhanced the viewing experience while boosting local journalism. Other important partners have been sport agents, local teams and the central league organisations.
Looking ahead, Bonnier aims to maintain a balance between high-profile and lower-division leagues, emphasising its commitment to community relevance. By embracing technological innovation and a holistic strategy, Bonnier News not only strengthens its market position but also exemplifies how local journalism can thrive in the digital age. Their success story may set a benchmark for local media worldwide, showing the power of tailored, community-focused content.
Background on Bonnier News
Bonnier News is one of the largest media companies in the Nordic region, managing over 200 brands that span a number of national and at least 50 local news outlets. Based in Sweden, the company reaches approximately 1.7 million subscribers daily, delivering high-quality journalism across diverse platforms. Bonnier News combines strong local news coverage with popular national titles like Expressen, creating a comprehensive media ecosystem. As a publisher the group has a strong tradition of a free press, defending diversity and protecting freedom of speech.
Why streaming sports?
In selecting this case for the Innovate Local program, we had three main reasons.
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Live local sports means very attractive content. It's excellent content for building loyalty. “Sport audiences are even more loyal than the normal customers” our speaker claims and continues to emphasise that local sports touch hearts and get new, especially younger, subscribers. He believes it is a major piece of the puzzle for local newspapers to succeed in the future.
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​Streaming elite sports to your audience means costs such as sport rights and production costs, so to provide it the media company needs scale. Bonnier News is the largest media company in Sweden with both national popular news brands as well as strong legacy local news brands.
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The scale of both national and local is important as we will see.​ To establish a loyal audience you need experience. The presenter of this case, Mattias Wallström, started as a journalist covering sports at a local newspaper when he was 14 years old and now has over 20 years of experience, including being a sports reporter and sports editor at the national brand Expressen. With this experience Mattias can offer his organisation the consistency and patience needed for being successful. Mattias says that “now it is more about business and tv rights, but still about sports”.
Fireside quality content: connecting locals
Mattias describes local sports as "fireside quality content"—events that bring people together in real time and spark conversations long afterward. From cheering on a team to chatting about highlights around the coffee machine at work, these events build a deep emotional connection. For Bonnier News, this emotional tie has been a cornerstone in driving subscriber loyalty. “People’s love for their local teams runs deep,” said Mattias during the webinar. “In some cases, it’s even more important than family ties!”
Bonnier News has capitalized on this passion by focusing on sports that may not grab national headlines but resonate deeply within local communities. From second-tier football leagues to smaller sports like floorball and basketball, the company ensures it reaches audiences at all levels of the sporting pyramid.
The screen shot shows an important and recent qualification game for the local football team in Östersund where Mattias happens to be based. “When you're working with live sports, anything can happen. This game took many hours because they had to take away the snow all the time. They even had to change from a white ball to a yellow ball. So everything can happen. The local team of Östersund managed to win the game and stay in in the 2nd league”
Collaboration for scale
A key part of Bonnier News’ success is its collaborative approach. In partnership with regional colleagues and competitors, it has created a network of 50 local news brands that provide access to sports coverage across almost all of Sweden. Combining forces, has allowed the company to pool resources, bid for broadcasting rights, and deliver content across both local brands and Expressen, its popular national news brand. Mattias says; “In the end we want to cover the whole country with sport rights, However right now it's us and two other local news media groups".
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Mattias emphasized that collaborations extends beyond just broadcasting. By working closely with leagues and clubs, Bonnier News supports efforts to improve scheduling, enhance visibility, and grow interest in the sports it streams.
“Sometimes we meet daily with leagues to plan and strategize,” Mattias explained. “Our goal is always to enhance the experience for viewers while ensuring the leagues thrive.”​
From trials to triumph
Bonnier News’ live sports journey began 11 years ago, with modest ambitions and a willingness to experiment. Early mistakes, such as investing in content without full integration into its subscriber base, provided valuable lessons. Seven years ago, the game changed when a local newspaper broadcast a European football match involving a team from Östersund. The success of this broadcast showed that even small local brands could deliver on large-scale events.
Now, with its content fully integrated into Bonnier News’ subscription model, the company offers sports as part of a broader "+Allt" ("+All") package, giving subscribers access to local games, national news, and lifestyle journalism. At just 249 SEK (€ 22) per month, this package has been a hit, helping the company attract new subscribers and deepen engagement with existing ones.
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"The consumer perception of our pricing is actually that we are quite inexpensive if you compare to the other TV streamers available in the country. So after struggling for a few years as a small local only news company that tried to offer some games, we are now one of the strong players in the market".
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Scaling content and impact
Today, Bonnier News streams over 5,000 matches annually, including games from second-division leagues and local tournaments. The company boasts nearly 300,000 unique viewers and 5 million video starts over the past 12 months, with some events drawing thousands of viewers, while others attract smaller, devoted audiences down to 100 viewers. The average is around 7,000 unique viewers per game and month
To make its operations scalable and cost-effective, Bonnier News had to invest in technology and platforms. Just getting over to one platform took some time. Mattias remembers: “First, we had one streaming platform for the national brand. It was not connected to the rest of the groups titles which was a great challenge as we had to synchronise data and connection of all the 1 million subscribers. Today we finally have connected live sports to all titles in the group”.
“Right now in our portfolio, we have a lot of top leagues. We have bandy, the biggest sport here. And we have basketball and floorball in the top leagues and we have the second league in the women's football league.
In addition we have a lot of local games, around 800 games from division 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and keep counting. Even a division 7 football game can be a big event for a small local newspaper,” Mattias said, underscoring the importance of tailoring content to audience needs.
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"For most of the lower divisions we have exclusive rights in addition to our both exclusive and, in some cases, shared rights for elite sports. In many cases we work together with agents and show elite sport games on our own platform as well as on a partner platform. We have grown very quickly. We are now ready to go for more leagues. Up to now we didn't go for the highest league, the most expensive. We have rather focused on the second one”, Mattias says.
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Thanks to advancements in AI technology, automated cameras have been deployed to reduce production costs for indoor sports like basketball and floorball. While outdoor sports present challenges due to weather, Mattias is optimistic about the potential for AI to transform the industry further.
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To the slide just above Mattias says: “Every time I talk about our company and our journey, when we are trying to get a new TV right, we always show this slide. To get successful in this tough area you need to be unique. And we are not like the other streamers (who just have a tv-channel brand)”.
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Mattias has strong arguments for rights holders to work with his company: “One is that we have one of the Swedish largest pools of sports journalists, over 100, if you put them all together. We have strong brands that are very trustworthy. This works well when we combine the national reach with the local reach.
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On the inside of the local media company sports rights also means advantages:
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"With this type of unique content, you can reach new audiences. We get younger viewers, especially with floorball and basketball. "
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"We see that the people come back and watch games every week or every month. They are more loyal than usual subscribers because they come back to see new and old games and read articles. Some of them never leave us".
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"A very important thing is that the usual visitors just stay a few minutes on the mobile site. However if you sit down and watch a whole game, you can stay for an hour or two or even three hours. And then you start discovering. They read articles during the breaks. And those articles are relevant because they are about local stuff."​​​​​​​​​​​
Building a holistic experience
For Bonnier News, the success of live sports streaming isn’t just about the games themselves—it’s about the entire experience. From pre-game marketing and match-day coverage to post-game highlights and analysis, the company ensures fans remain engaged at every stage. Mattias describes: “We can do it all the way from before the game, during the game and after the game. And it's straight into the local heart. So if you come full circle, you will have success.”
Mattias is also honest with the challenges:“Sometimes we can fix this, sometimes it's more tough. We have to create interest when writing about the local teams and at the stadium. You have to associate with our local brand. It is about marketing, Then during the game, you have a good presentation on your website. Then you have clips on social media. And after the game, you have the highlights and more articles. If we get this spinning, then you will have a lot more viewers."
Mattias also offers advice with “a few tips, if you want to try this”:
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“I think courage is a big one and, with that, trial and error. If you have technical problems, and Mattias mentions their own experience during an early football game which had bad sound because of a heavy snow fall. Just try again next time and be prepared. You need the courage to do it over and over again".
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“Don't think that the biggest sport and the highest league is the best one to achieve success. It's not always like that. A niche sport or a lower league sport can be more successful for a local news brand".
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"Don’t forget that you will have the best local content you can dream of, with clips from the goals and from the crowd celebrating e.t.c. And it's content that works great on social media, to market the games, as well as for marketing the local news brand".
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"It is important", and Mattias admits he has struggled a bit with this, "to get everybody on board; journalists, the marketing people, and all other departments to believe in this so to get the full effect. It has to work widely within the organisation to create something more than a standalone streaming product".
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"And last but not least! If you have a local game, even in lower divisions, do the marketing of the game in the same way as a classical game between Barcelona and Real Madrid. Don't apologize for the lower division. Be proud of the game and use it. It will be a great game for the locals".
This integrated approach has not only driven viewership but also positioned Bonnier News as a trusted partner for leagues and clubs. Additionally, it has boosted subscriber loyalty, with sports viewers showing higher retention rates than average subscribers.
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“Sports is a gateway,” Mattias explained. “It’s not just about watching the game. People read articles during halftime, explore other content, and stay engaged beyond the matches.”
A future for local media rooted in streaming sports
As Bonnier News looks ahead, it is focused on finding the right balance between covering higher-profile leagues and continuing to support smaller, local sports. By emphasizing its connection to local communities and leveraging the latest technology, the company aims to solidify its position as a leader in live sports streaming.
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This quote is from a smaller local news brand. Mattias says: “He tries to live stream every sport in his area. It’s an excellent example of that you don't have to have a team in the highest league or even the second league. This very local news brand streams games with teams in the league five to six and also marginal niche sports, and they make a good business out of it, thanks to loyal subscribers.
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​​​One of the last slides in Mattias presentation shows this unique nordic sport; “Folkrace” (or “Peoples race”). For Bonnier News local titles it's one of the the sports with the most viewers. Check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi12sMvZ4Kg
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Questions and answers:
Question: "Do you work together with the teams and with the league organisations?"
Answer:
- "Sometimes it’s an agent that you bought the rights from, sometimes it's from the club and sometimes it's from the league and in that case we work together with the league. For instance we have regular meetings with the basketball league and football league. We have two people that focus on this. Last Friday, for instance, I was in such a meeting for a whole day. Together we ask ourselves how we can increase interest. Can we change the schedule for the games? Can we play later in the evening? Can we play earlier in the day? Can we play another day? Stuff like that. You need to continue the development of the leagues all the time. And of course, while continuing the independence of the newsroom on the local level".
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Question: "I talked to an American media group last week and they said, for them, high school sports is the single biggest subscription driver in terms of topics. How high up is sports for you, like in terms of converting people compared to other ways to get people into your content?"
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Answer:
- "Streaming sports is one of the best ways to convert loyal subscribers. Some people that came in three or four years ago are still customers. If you have a standard article on a local news brand it may attract, if it’s successful, one or two new paying subscribers, if you have a good local game, you can get 40-60 new subscribers just for one game. So there is a big difference. Even if you prefer to calculate “lifetime value” of users who come in through streaming sports, it’s a little higher than the standard case. The main thing is that they stay longer. The more people that watch games, the longer they stay as subscribers. If you only watch one game, you will probably leave us a bit sooner. But if you're watching every game every week or every month, you will stay for a longer time".
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Question: "How do you negotiate sports rights? Are there many competitors? Is it an annual agreement? "
Answer:
- "We have all the big TV-companies in the nation, of course, with whom we compete on the main rights. If we go down a little bit in the leagues, it's almost only us. More frequent is that the leagues make a good business out of their own platform. Then of course, they don't want to sell it to us, if they have a better business on their own platform. However, as you have seen, we can add value. If they have games in our geography, they will get more, such as a lot of articles and a lot of marketing for the league. So it’s deeper.
- In the case of the football game in snow (see above) we didn't know which team would play it, until very late. There was a quick phone call with the agent and the decision was made about both the production and the distribution. Next time it can take everything from months to almost a year to get a deal with a top league that could be for several years. Such a negotiation may go back and forth and you will never know what the competitors are ready to pay. It's not an open market. So you need to ask yourself: Okay, what is our business case and what can we offer them? It can be a bit tough to find out the value. However now we have worked with this for so many years. Ten years ago, I was not so confident about which level is a good offer. But now I think we have enough data to know. Then I can tell ourselves: OK this league is worth 1, 2 or 5 million Swedish kronor (€ 100 000 - 500 000) for us".
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Question: "Can you tell us something about your side of the business? Is it an investment for retention and loyalty? Or are you also making money? And do you have a high churn on the live sport conversions?"
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Answer:
- "There's not much churn. The churn is higher for the typical digital subscriber. In some cases you may have a challenge, if you have only one big game with a team and nothing more. Then you can have churn. But if you have the league rights and show games every week during nine months, then people stay to watch the whole season. Therefore it's been important for us to buy the leagues so that we can offer the local favorite team for the whole season, offering streaming of all games".
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Question: "Do you also run advertising in the streaming sport content?"
Answer:
- "Advertising is tough. The answer is no. (Our comment: we guess that maybee the sports rights get even more expensive if you want to put ads in the content)".
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Question: "Coming back to the sport rights, can you just give us a feeling for the cost?
Answer:
- "For lower leagues, it depends if they have a good platform. If they have a good pay-per-view platform the price goes up. But if they don't, they're just happy you're going for the game. For the “the lower teams” it can be 100 euro for a game. But of course, if you get up to the highest league, especially if you go for a whole league for five years, it's a lot of millions, of course (corresponds to a lot of € 100 000s). There is a big difference between the lower leagues and higher leagues."
- "I think, if you're a local newspaper, you don't have to start with a big league. If you're new in this game, just try the lower division games and try to work together with some companies as we do. You don't have to do it on your own."
- "For the production of the games, we don't do it by ourselves. We have production teams that we work together with. As I said, new technology will make it cheaper to produce in the coming years. We have started to use AI cameras at some games. There are areas where you can save some money,, such as renting a big bus and five cameras with camera men and stuff like that. This year we have produced 300-400 games with AI cameras. It works great in indoor sports, like basketball and floorball. But as soon as you come outside, you have wind, rain and snow. That makes it tougher to use AI.cameras for football. However it's getting better. I think that in a few years you can use AI in most of the games. And then you may pay half the price for the production compared to today. Actually I thought it had come longer than that. We have had some games where the AI camera did not even find the ball. As I said earlier. You need to try and fail again and then you will succeed. You need to have the courage."
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Question: "What's the next thing for you in streaming sports and sport rights?"
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Answer:
- "Right now we have some rights that need to be renewed, such as floorball. We have had the rights for just a few months. Maybe we will continue with this sport. Maybe even some years."
- "Otherwise it's the question of whether to get higher leagues or not. Should we stay on the current level or should we go for lower leagues? For now I think the main thing for us is to find a mix. You can have higher leagues sometimes, but you also need not to lose the local lower leagues. I think it’s key to have the whole spectrum".
Useful links and contact information
Here are links to presentation, to Bonnier News, to some samples of video and to the presenter:
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The webinar presentation can be downloaded here.
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The presenter, Mattias Wallström, head of tv-rights Bonnier News, can be reached on his mobile number +46 70 252 71 65 or via his e-mail-address mattias.wallstrom@bonniernews.se
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Link to Bonnier News
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Bonnier News also runs special Verticals for some popular sports. These sites also offers subscriptions.
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Here is the site for bandy
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...and here is the web site for “Folkrace”
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During the presentation Mattias showed some video examples. Here are the links. However you need to apply for access to the videos. Mattias will, when time allows, admit access.
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You are welcome to contact the WAN-IFRA Innovate Local team, if you have questions or examples of similar cases.
Cecilia Campbell: c.campbell@wan-ifra.org
Niklas Jonason: n.jonason@wan-ifra.org