Viaplay rejigs organisational model & strikes Pickbox deal to expand Europe offer

Anders Jensen

Nordic streamer Viaplay has rejigged its operational model and revealed an agreement with Pickbox Now to distribute its Select service in south-Eastern Europe.

The organisational changes will see Viaplay’s operational model adding four regions to its existing set-up.

As a result, Kim Poder has been appointed EVP and Chief Commercial Officer for the Group’s Nordic operations; Alexander Bastin EVP and chief commercial officer for the Group’s Baltic, Polish and Dutch operations; Matthew Hooper EVP and Chief Commercial Officer for the UK operations; and Vanda Rapti EVP and Chief Commercial Officer for North America and Viaplay Select.

Viaplay’s deal with European streaming operator Pickbox Now will make Viaplay Select available in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia.

Viaplay Select offers of originals and third-party content made available to distribution partners for a fixed fee. As a result, Viaplay Select will now be available in 18 markets in Europe, Asia, Australia and Latin America.

The news came as Viaplay confirmed its long-term strategic targets and full-year guidance ahead of its Capital Markets day yesterday.

Viaplay recently reduced its full year 2022 guidance to organic group revenue growth of approximately 20%; organic Nordic revenue growth of approximately 10%; and Nordic EBIT margin of approximately 7% following Q3 results that showed slowing momentum in the Nordic markets.

Viaplay said that its international operations are performing ahead of plan, while short-term challenges are being addressed in the Nordic markets.

The group’s 2023 outlook is for Group sales to grow by 24-26% on an organic basis, and for Nordic sales to grow by 12-15% on an organic basis.

The number of paying Viaplay subscribers is expected to grow by 23% from approximately 7.3 million at the end of 2022 to approximately nine million at the end of 2023, of which five million subscribers are expected to be in the Nordics, and four million subscribers in international markets.

CEO Anders Jensen said the group’s “international expansion is running ahead of plan and we expect to achieve combined profitability for the international operations in 2024 – one year ahead of schedule”.

On the Pickbox deal, he said: The addition of seven new European territories for Viaplay Select shows how we can monetise our content and build our brand in markets where we do not currently plan to offer Viaplay on a direct-to-consumer basis.