Netflix unveiled 26 new Nordic film and TV productions at its Next on Netflix showcase in Stockholm on Monday, expanding its slate of Nordic content that began distribution in 2018.
The showcase, which followed similar presentations in Germany and London, announced 26 updates across film and TV projects, and 12 new titles, including an adaptation pf Jo Nesbø’s popular Norweigan book series "The Devil’s Star” titled Harry Hole.
New nordic movies include an adaptation of the crime-solving whodunnit The Key Series, written by Alex Ahndoril, the pseudonym for husband and wife writers Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril.
The film will be produced by leading Scandinavian production firm Filmlance, with casting not yet announced.
Netflix’s new slate of content comes just weeks after Scandinavian local streamer Viaplay again adjusted its business strategy, “moving away from large numbers of high-cost original dramas toward more popular and profitable local formats,” and even sold the rights to “a number of our original productions to global media players,” according to the company's Q4 interim report.
The strategy is not a major shift in focus for Viaplay. But with the additional competition of Netflix’s increasingly expansive host of Nordic content, determining what content local viewers want to see will be of greater import to the Scandinavian streamer.
Last summer, Viaplay outlined plans to focus on its core markets in the Nordics and the Netherlands, including to end the streaming services launched in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K, laying off more than 25% of staff.
The moves were part of broad cost-cutting measures amid business challenges. The company even considered various strategic options, including a possible sale.
“We made further progress in the fourth [quarter] to reset the business,” said Viaplay president and CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann on Thursday. “We agreed to the sale of our U.K. operation, are withdrawing from the Baltics and North America, and will exit Poland by the middle of next year.”
This, Madsen Lindemann said, will allow Viaplay “to focus on our core Nordic operations, in markets where we have delivered profitable growth with double-digit margins and strong cash conversion in the past… And that, combined with our scale and soon-to-be profitable business in the Netherlands, is what we are aiming to do again.”
Viaplay’s increased Nordic profits were “offset by the losses in the international markets, which has been the pattern for the whole year and is why we are exiting all but one of these markets.”
Viaplay saw second-quarterly losses of more than $575 million.
But with the added presence of a giant global streamer like Netflix adapting literature from popular local authors, competition is bound to ramp up in the region.
“The creative industry in the Nordic region is outstanding, with some of the most talented people in the world,” said Netflix VP of content Nordics, Jenny Stjernströmer Björk. “Together with our partners, we're committed to continuing this successful journey, united by our goal of crafting exceptional entertainment that touches and moves people."
Other previously announced movies on Netflix’s Nordic slate due to debut this year are Sigge Eklund’s coming-of-age story A Part Of You, Mikael Marcimain’s political drama An Honest Life, Elle Márjá Eira’s indigenous drama-thriller Stolen, and Jon Holmberg’s heist tale Trouble.
