After changing its top leadership and merging its Swedish and Norwegian production units, Viaplay, the listed Scandinavian streamer, has announced that it will lay off 25% of its workforce as it plans to focus on its core Nordic and Dutch business, as well as sports and international distribution. Approximately 450 jobs will be axed as part of the layoff plan.
Filippa Wallestam, chief commercial officer for the Nordics, is departing the org. Wallestam has been a leading force behind the streamer’s output in ambitious scripted originals, including the banner’s dive in English-language content. Viaplay will not be totally pulling out of originals but will be focusing on Nordic unscripted originals. Going forward, the streamer intends on delivering approximated 10 scripted Viaplay series or movies per year, as per the outline of the content plan for 2024. It’s a massive reduction from the previous output which included at least 40 original productions per year.
Viaplay’s new CEO and president Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, who recently took over from Anders Jensen, said the layoffs resulted from “the material change in the international business plans, and the fact that not all of the content investments that we have made are paying off.”
The second quarter financial results for the group, which were published on Thursday, reveal that the robust organic sales growth of 16% to $448 million was offset by combined TV, radio and AVOD sales being down 16%. Operating income and net income were also down for the group. Operating losses for the full year are predicted to be between $83 million and $102 million.
“Viaplay subscriber volumes were substantially lower than at the end of Q1,” the company said.
Viaplay’s new strategy is to focus on its “core Nordic, Netherlands and Viaplay Select operations; 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 program; and conducting an immediate strategic review of the entire business to consider all options including content sub-licensing, asset disposals, equity injections or the sale of the whole group,” Lindemann said.
The picture is somewhat rosier for 2024 where the company predicts that could incur a loss of $14 million or a profit of the same amount.
“It is clear that we have much to do and much to gain, which is exactly what we are focused on,” Lindemann said. The executive also suggested Viaplay – or at least some of it — could be sold, pointing out that the streamer’s “content in international markets will hopefully lead to interest but it is too premature to give an idea of how advanced this is.”
