NeuLion eyes further European expansion

NeuLion’s European presence has grown to upwards of 50 people based in London, and now the company is looking to expand its presence across the rest of Europe with the hiring of sales people who can cover different countries and areas across the continent.

“We’re looking to hire about 10 new sales directors by the end of the year to cover regions like the Benelux, the Nordics, Eastern Europe, and the DACH region,” says Chris Wagner, NeuLion, EVP and co-founder. “So we want to get the right people in the right region and build from there.”

Acquisitions of companies like Saffron Digital and Jump TV have helped expand NeuLion’s customer base in Europe, and top clients include Sky Sports, Eleven Sports Network, the EFL, Portugal’s Sport TV, Carrefour in France, and more.

“Cycling.TV is how we really got our start in Europe with live and on-demand cycling and races,” says Wagner. “That was really the start of our presence in London.”

Approximately eight years later Wagner sees a European market that is embracing OTT and TV Everywhere across the continent.

“In Europe the OTT and TV Everywhere buyer is more interested in an end-to-end solution versus buying components and then having to integrate them,” says Wagner. “They are trying to make their projects less complicated with less vendors and that bodes well for us as we license a suite of components that are well integrated. It helps them get to market more quickly and makes things less complex.”

For a company like NeuLion, founded and headquartered in the US, a key to success overseas is that consumer behavior is similar everywhere. “They want choice and they want to be able to pick and choose their content, and have access on any device,” he says. “And then the multi-screen operators, like cable and satellite, use TV Everywhere as part of their subscriber retention strategy.”

The end result of the increased interest in OTT at IBC was a show that saw 25% more attendees stop by than in 2015.

“It was a lot busier than the year before and there was a lot of interest in services that can offer high video quality and then things like 4K or 360 video support,” says Wagner. “The move to IP is happening even more than last year.”

Anyone interested in learning more about the new positions can contact Derek Sekuler via email at [email protected].