Viaplay CEO Anders Jensen steps down amidst downgrading of group performance

Five years after taking the helm of Viaplay Group, President and CEO Anders Jensen has stepped down, and been replaced by Jorgen Madsen Lindemann.

As former CEO of MTG, previous parent company of Viaplay Group, also listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, Lindemann is very familiar with the Nordic streaming group, having held various senior leadership jobs at MTG over 26 years, including Head of the Nordic operations and international operations.

The major change of leadership comes as Viaplay has announced a downgrading of its 2023 short-term outlook, with Nordic organic sales growth predictions for the year almost halved, from the anticipated 12-15% to 7.0-8.0% and sales growth for the overall group estimated at 16-17.5% versus the anticipated 24-26%.

The group has also withdrawn its long term operational and financial guidance.
Viaplay blames the worsening of its performance to the microeconomic headwinds that has led to “lower D2C streaming and wholesale linear subscription sales, as well as higher churn levels following price increases”.

As explained by Pernille Erenbjerg, Chair of the Board, these tougher market conditions were not mitigated by the group’s cost-cutting measures. “The outlook for the markets in which we are operating has shifted considerably and at a very rapid pace, and the execution of cost savings programmes has not been mitigating the effects from these conditions to a sufficient extent. The impact of the macroeconomic headwinds on the business require that we execute differently on our strategy,” she said.

While underscoring the Board’s trust in the new CEO, Erenbjerg added: “The overall strategic direction of the company is unchanged and Jorgen, together with the Board and his leadership team, will evaluate the need for structural, operational, and capital allocation enhancements to the delivery of the strategy.“

Ahead of the publication of its second quarter results on July 20, the group said it expects Q2 to close with a 7.7 million subscriber base (versus 7.64 million for Q1), sales of between SEK 4.5-4.6 billion, and Q2 EBIT (before ACI and IAC) of SEK -250 and -300 million. Meanwhile cuts in advertising revenues estimated at 2% for the first quarter, are set to reach 12-16% on an organic basis for Q2.

Viaplay Group is present in 33 markets and is planning to premiere 130 productions this year between live sport, scripted and non-scripted original content.