Viaplay reaches “major milestone” as streamer becomes NENT’s biggest revenue raiser

Red Election

Nordic streamer Viaplay has become the biggest revenue raiser for parent Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group) for the first time, its latest quarterly results have revealed.

The company’s Viaplay streamer added 140,000 subscribers in Q2, which includes 27,000 subscribers from outside Scandinavia following its launch outside of the region in March.

Viaplay’s total subscriber base has expanded by 21% year-on-year to 3.29 million and, buoyed by the positive results, the operator said that it had now upped its full-year international subscriber target to 500,000, with an aim to add at least 400,000 subs in the Nordics. NENT has set a target of 10.5 million Viaplay subscribers by 2025.

Anders Jensen

The service will launch in Poland in August, followed by the US later this year and a further eight international markets by the end of 2023.

Growth & milestones

Overall, NENT’s operating income rose to SEK244m ($28m), up from SEK156m year-over-year.

Anders Jensen, NENT CEO, said: “The momentum that we have established continued into the second quarter of our five-year strategy period, and we are well on track to reach our goals.

“21% Viaplay subscriber growth, 31% group organic revenue growth and 98% underlying profit growth further demonstrate the strength and potential of the business. This was the first quarter when Viaplay was our largest revenue generating unit, which is a major milestone in our transformation.”

“The pace of our international expansion is now ramping up with the imminent launch in Poland, and we are raising our subscriber and investment targets for the year to reflect the strength of our content offering and the new partnerships that we are forging.”

NENT has been bullish about the prospects for Viaplay, which is due to expand into the Netherlands and was recently rolled out across the Baltics. Last year, the company raised more than $400m to help fund further growth, with plans for a US launch in late 2021 also in the works.

It has also offloaded numerous production assets, selling NENT Studios UK to All3Media and its Nordic unscripted production interests to Fremantle.

Viaplay, meanwhile, has been rapidly expanding its originals with plans to to premiere at least 40 original productions in 2021. Shows on the slate include UK-set Red Election, the recently announced Hilma, Billy The Kid, Who Shot Otto Mueller? and Sisterhood.