Swedish-owned subscription streaming service Viaplay is pursuing a two-pronged strategy of niche sports content and ‘Nordic noir’ Crime & Thriller as it expands from a strong foothold in Nordic and Baltic European markets into English-speaking territories. The platform, owned by Viaplay Group (formerly Nordic Entertainment Group), launched in the UK in November 2022, the USA in February 2023, and Canada in March 2023, having grown its global subscriber base from just over 4m subscribers in 2021 to over 7m by the end of 2022. 

A key factor behind Viaplay’s success in European markets is the popularity of the company’s Nordic noir content, which resonates with a niche international audience. Global streaming companies are ordering more Crime & Thriller content to target older demographics, while Viaplay is targeting this audience in new markets via a streamlined version of its original content catalogue, which is dominated by Scripted Nordic noir and True-Crime Documentary titles. This is especially clear in its most recent English-speaking market expansion, with Crime-related content making up around 40% of Viaplay’s catalogue of originals in both the US and UK market.

Having established a Crime niche in markets already saturated with larger, more generalist SVoD offerings, Viaplay’s developing strategy for continued expansion is sports focused. In the UK, Viaplay has acquired premium sports channel group Premier Sports for £30 million and is securing media rights for more niche sports, including the IHF World Handball Championship until 2031 and men’s international football matches featuring Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from 2024 to 2028, for an estimated £32m per season.

These acquisitions are supplemented with original sports Documentaries, with orders for this type of original content spiking in Q1 2022 and again in Q4 2022 as Viaplay launched in the Netherlands and UK respectively. A similar pattern of rights acquisition and commissioning of complementary originals is likely to continue in the US and Canada.

Original sports content aims to combat off-season churn, and is supported by media partnerships with high-profile figures. Viaplay has secured multifaceted, multi-year media partnerships with Formula One driver Max Verstappen and Norwegian Manchester City soccer player Erling Haaland, producing original shows such as Max Verstappen: Anatomy of a Champion and Haaland Conquers England. The two stars are also Viaplay ambassadors in several European countries where the platform owns media rights for their respective sports. Unique offering Verstappen Onboard even provides Viaplay F1 fans with a behind-the-wheel race experience, allowing subscribers a camera feed inside Verstappen’s car from start to finish. 

Reports of a serious Viaplay bid for £200m-per-season UK sports rights to the English Football League (EFL), starting from the 2024/25 season, even if potentially unsuccessful as the EFL has now entered exclusive negotiations with Sky, are perhaps an indication of its ongoing commitment to invest. But as it now enters the competitive and expensive US sports rights market, Viaplay must prepare to increase its expenditure on both rights and originals to expand its subscriber base further still.