The Nordic entertainment group plans to launch in Poland, the Baltics and in the US in 2021 and to reach 10.5 million Viaplay global subscribers by late 2025.

Today, on the eve of its Capital Markets Day, NENT Group has announced its ambition to ramp up its global footprint outside the Nordic region, to become a European streaming champion by the end of 2025.

The group’s global roll out will start with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in March 2021, and will be followed in August by Poland, where the current 25% subscription base of the country’s 13.8 million households is expected to grow to more than 40% by 2025, according to NENT Group’s estimates.

In late 2021, NENT Group’s streamer Viaplay will launch in the US, as a tailor-made service offering high quality Nordic drama series. The US is the leading streaming market with 300 million paying customers, 80% household penetration and three subscriptions per household on average.

The Nordic group’s global expansion will continue in five other European markets - non disclosed yet - by the end of 2023, which should convert into an overall international subscription base of approximately 4.5 million by late 2025.

A similar growth pattern is anticipated in the Nordic region where NENT Group plans to double its Viaplay subscribers to approximately 6 million in a five-year time-frame, betting on 80% of the 12.7 million Nordic households to pay for an average three streaming services, versus two services and 60% of the households today.

NENT expects the Nordic region to generate 13-15% of the group’s anticipated overall 18-20% compound annual organic revenue growth for 2020-2025, with its Nordic EBIT margin target set to increase 15% by 2025.

To achieve its five-year expansion plan, NENT Group was due to discuss later today with its shareholders an equity increase of more than SEK 3.5 billion.

Anders Jensen, NENT Group President & CEO said: “Viaplay is a proven Nordic success story and we are now ready to expand internationally and become the European streaming champion. We have one of the world’s most flexible and scalable technology platforms, and aim to be the most diverse and inclusive storyteller with our amazing range of original, acquired, local and live content that offers something special for everyone. We have already signed up key content rights in our target markets, and are in discussions with distributors about exciting new partnerships to ensure that Viaplay is available everywhere.”

“This expansion requires funding and we will be discussing this with our shareholders. The growth and profitability targets that we are presenting today illustrate the unique and significant potential of our existing Nordic business and future international operations. The time is right to seize this major opportunity that we have in front of us, given the continued growth in streaming and ever-increasing demand for high-quality and locally relevant entertainment. We are ready. We have the platform, we have the operational model, we have the content and, most importantly, we have the team.”

In a separate announcement today, NENT Group said it has closed a partnership with the US media group Starz to make its programmes available to Nordic Viaplay subscribers from December 2020. Starzplay content includes both original and acquired programmes, such as the series Power, The Spanish Princess, the Golden Globe-winning Ramy, on top of Lionsgate top end film library. NENT Group and Starz are also in discussions to extend their partnership to additional markets.