Viaplay ups subs target after stellar international quarter

Nordic and international streamer Viaplay has upped its subscriber target after reporting very strong second quarter numbers.

The company said it has passed 5.5 million subscribers at the end of June, 69% up year-on-year having added 766,000 subs quarter-on-quarter.

Anders Jensen

Revenue was up 18% on an organic basis, with reported sales of SEK3.725 billion. Operating income fell from SEK244 million to SEK132 million as the result of a SEK239 million impact of the company’s international expansion.

President and CEO Anders Jensen said that the company was upgrading its end of year subscriber target from seven million to 7.3 million, with the increase coming entirely from international growth

Viaplay now expects international subscribers to number 2.5 million by the end of the year, up from the 2.2 million targeted earlier.

The upgrade comes after the company added 307,000 international subscribers in the quarter.

Viaplay plans to launch in the UK in the autumn and has just acquired UK sports rights outfit Premier Sports to add to its sports-lineup there. Sports has been key to the company’s international growth and Viaplay will add English Premier League football to its content offering in the Netherlands, Poland and the Baltic countries next month.

Ahead of the results being published, analysts at Berenberg had expressed confidence that “subscriber numbers for the quarter are likely to be strong for both the Nordic and international segments” and predicted the upgrade.

Berenberg said any upgrade on subscriber numbers would be “reasonable’ and forecast around two million net additions for the full year.