Viaplay has announced far-reaching changes to its strategy including letting go of over 25% of its employees and switching its focus to core Nordic, Netherlands and Viaplay Select operations.
In a note accompanying the company’s latest results, its president and CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann said its new strategy and plan also includes “implementing a new operational model; downsizing, partnering or exiting our other international markets; rightsizing and pricing our product offering in the Nordics; undertaking a major cost reduction programme; and conducting an immediate strategic review of the entire business to consider all options including content sublicensing, asset disposals, equity injections or the sale of the whole group”.
He added: “the content investments that have been made are not all paying off, and are committed in the short and medium term. Furthermore, the pursuit of subscriber volume growth has been at the cost of value, especially when it comes to our partner agreements. The weakness in the advertising markets and currency exchange rates are additional factors that we must live with. The international expansion assumptions, including the timelines to profitability, have also been pushed materially into the future since the expansion started. We are moving quickly to address all of these challenges”.
Lindemann also said that Viaplay will discontinue its low tier non-sports offering in each of its international markets, including the US and UK, in order to focus on its sports offering and the sale of non-sports content through its profitable Viaplay Select business.
Viaplay had net sales of SEK4,591 million (€399 million) in Q2, up from SEK3,725 million a year earlier. It has a net loss of SEK5,886 million, compared to a profit of SEK175 million.
