On the eve of the MipTV global content market in Cannes, Vanda Rapti, executive vice president of content selection and distribution at Viaplay Group, provided an assured view of the Scandi streamer’s global shares and content sales.
The sales executive, who joined the group in 2003, was able to advertise only to Selection a series of new Nordic-scripted premium content offerings from Viaplay.
The Swedish psychological thriller “Finish of Summer”, based on the best-selling detective novel of the same name by former police officer Anders de la Motte, has been acquired by Canal + Group’s Polar+ channel for France and all its territories.
The six-part sequel, starring Julia Ragnarsson (“Midsommar,” “Blinded”) and Erik Enge (“Tiger”), follows a sister’s search for the reality behind her younger brother’s disappearance and his potential return many years later. The program was produced by Viaplay and Harmonica Movies, in co-production with SF Studios, Movie i Skåne and Paprika Studios.
The package sale to Polar+ also included the rights to the Norwegian crime drama “Fenris,” starring Ida Elise Broch (“Home for Christmas”).
“Finish of Summer” has proven to be an exciting title for the Nordic streaming group’s sales arm, as 40 markets will now show it as part of curated playlists available globally through Viaplay Select and traditional licensing.
Elsewhere, Danish drama and 2022 Canneseries contender “The Dreamer-Turning into Karen Blixen” starring Connie Nielsen has been sold to Orange for France, Norwegian crime hit “Wisting season 5” for publisher NPO in the Netherlands, while RTS in Switzerland arrested the Norwegian reveals “Furia” Season 2” and “Fenris” and “Beneath”.
Viaplay MipTV Slate
Other MipTV offerings include the recent Swedish Sequence Mania competitor “All and Eva” starring Tuva Novotny, the crime thriller series “Jana-Marked for Life” starring Madeleine Martin, Pernilla August, August Wittgenstein, and the series unscripted true crime film “Underneath the Radar Secrets and Techniques of a Swedish Serial Killer”.
“At MipTV, we promote certain shows for advertising reasons, but of course, we have a big list of other titles that will be on my mind when I talk to consumers,” said Rapti, who also mentions the upcoming Swedish crime sequel “Mafia.”
Inspired by true events, the six-part series chronicles the journey of an infamous Swedish mobster, set against the backdrop of the war in Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Headlining the show are Axel Stjärne (“Prime Dog”), Tomas Jonsgården ( “Game of Thrones: Aftermath”), Katia Winter (“Sleepy Hole”) and Peshang Rad (“Before We Die”).
“With non-English language content, true stories – in the scripted or unscripted space – work very well internationally,” Rapti highlighted.
As always, Viaplay Content Distribution represents one of the largest catalogs available on the market of cutting-edge Nordic content in different formats and genres, but also some non-Nordic Viaplay originals such as UK crime in English. current “Rebus”, based on the novels by Scottish creator Ian Rankin Inspector Rebus.
The series, which was initially released through the UK-based Viaplay service itself, was recently sold to the BBC, following the Scandi streamer’s decision last year to exit the UK. – together with the USA and the Baltic countries – in a significant effort to reduce costs.
Viaplay 2.0
After the tumultuous 2023, which saw Viaplay reduce its workforce by 25% of eviction assets, completely revamp its working model and management team under new CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, the Viaplay Group is on the road to recovery.
The group has efficiently achieved its recapitalization value of 4 billion Swedish krona ($381.7 million), with the joining of new shareholders Canal+ and the Czech group PPF, and is now absolutely focused on its main direct markets to the consumer – the Nordics and the Netherlands, with an exit from Poland expected in mid-2025 – and in its Viaplay Choose model.
Viaplay Select, which offers partner platforms with a curated list of top Nordic and European series, is available in more than 20 countries through 13 partner platforms, explains Rapti. These include Bell Media’s Crave streamer in Canada, Canal+ in Austria, Deutsche Telekom’s Magenta TV service in Germany, CH Media’s Oneplus in Switzerland and Vodafone Greece.
Rapti sees Viaplay Select as an ideal business model to optimize the exploitation of rights internationally, with minimal risk. “When we enter a market via Viaplay Select with partners, we do not take financial risks. Quite the contrary, these are partnerships that happen from the beginning, we are sure of the financing terms for at least a minimum significant advantage”, he noted.
After Viaplay Select and traditional sales in multiple territories, Viaplay Content Distribution’s third focus is Viaplay’s SVOD channel. Currently available in North America through partner platforms including Comcast Xfinity, Roku and Xumo, the service offers over 2,000 hours of top-notch Nordic and European storytelling.
“Our intention is to develop our SVOD channel with new partnerships to be introduced soon in other markets,” said Rapti.
In short, the senior sales executive feels her team offers “a strong distributor for Nordic and European storytellers and rights holders, perhaps more attractive than traditional distribution retailers” due to its unique three-pronged global licensing models. pathways.
Going forward, she said Viaplay continues to be “a great place and a great accomplice to producers.”
“Rights holders, especially in the Nordic countries, may have been worried during the Viaplay recapitalization process, but it is clear now that the group will survive. Our recapitalization has been successful and can help us face our immediate challenges, so producers should not be afraid”, he insisted.
Regarding possible new third-party fundraising, Rapti says this is unlikely to happen in the near future, considering the backlog of Viaplay titles still awaiting release.
“Let’s put the issues into perspective. In recent years, we have had a huge wave of content creation at Viaplay, which has led us to have a large number of new titles available as a distributor, more than most other streaming platforms,” she said. “In 2023, we launched more than 70 Viaplay Originals and we enter 2024 with more than 55 upcoming scripted reveals that have been produced, are being financed or can be shown. Still for 2025, we have many new, completely recent titles to be released this year. So we won’t be without content for some time,” Rapti noted.