Viaplay Sets New International Expansion Plans

Viaplay is rolling out a new branded service, Viaplay Select, to ramp up its international footprint, with a deal already in place with WOWOW in Japan.

Viaplay Select is expected to be available in at least five territories this year. It makes its debut in Japan with WOWOW this month. The service will initially offer up to 450 hours of curated premium content via partner services. It will be targeted to those markets where the streamer is not planning a direct-to-consumer strategy.

With the addition of the new service, Viaplay’s market presence is on track to hit 21 countries by the end of 2023, with the Viaplay app available direct to consumers in at least 16 countries.

“The uniqueness of Nordic content is creating significant global demand for this type of storytelling—and nobody delivers higher quality or volumes than us,” said Anders Jensen, the president and CEO of Viaplay parent Nordic Entertainment (NENT) Group. “Viaplay Select will be a fantastic showcase that helps partners stand out in a competitive streaming landscape, while increasing our content investment returns. Viaplay’s new partner markets will be margin-accretive from day one. We continue to innovate and collaborate to bring our award-winning stories to viewers around the world.”

Vanda Rapti, NENT Group’s senior VP and head of acquisitions, content distribution and partnerships, added, “Viaplay Select will be a very appealing offering to partners. Our fast-growing slate of Viaplay originals, coupled with global IP control and multi-market relationships, mean we can offer a unique pipeline of content with a proven track record of attracting quality-conscious audiences.”

Viaplay reported paying subs of 4.8 million at the end of Q1. “The launch of Viaplay in the Netherlands last month has beaten all expectations and was the primary contributor to the Q1 intake of 778,000 Viaplay paying subscribers,” Jensen said. “Q1 was also our fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit organic sales growth. Our Nordic profits were up 29 percent despite significant content investments, and we delivered a group operating profit even when including the investments in our international expansion. The recently signed distribution agreement with Tele2 in Sweden has led us to upgrade our full year 2022 Viaplay subscriber target, with Viaplay revenue growth set to accelerate and the group revenue growth target unaffected.”

By year-end, Viaplay expects to reach 4.8 million subs, with 2.2 million outside of its core Nordic markets.