07/10/2015 - NF Direct in Copenhagen’s “Silicon Valby” should double digital business, now with an annual €67 million turnover

Nordisk digital manager Christian Folden Lund, who has taken over as head of NF Direct (© Steen Brogaard)

Having begun its digital operations in 2011, which now register an annual turnover of €67 million, Danish major Nordisk Film will next year bring them all together at NF Direct in Valby’s Film City. The former Studio 6 at Nordisk’s property in the Copenhagen suburb (opened in 1906) will become “Silicon Valby”, a business incubator with approximately 100 staff who have so far been working at five different addresses. 

“We have a couple of strong films in production, and the cinemas are likely to have their best year since 1977. Still, I think we need to have more digital operations to maintain a strong position in the future media and entertainment markets,” Nordisk CEO Allan Mathson Hansen explained to Denmark’s Finans.

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Owned by Denmark’s largest media concern, Egmont, Nordisk runs production and distribution operations in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, adding the biggest cinema circuits in Denmark and Norway. It also handles Sony’s PlayStation in the Nordic and Baltic countries.

Digital services include the online sale of tickets for cinemas and other events, the streaming of films and TV series (Min Bio, Dansk Filmskat), the online sales of gift cards (Gavekortet.dk, Goodtimes) and Airmagine, which digitises commercials for theatres and Copenhagen Airport.

Min Bio (My Cinema) is aimed at younger audiences in all four Scandinavian countries – Nordisk offers one month’s free subscription with the purchase of a ticket for a children’s film. Dansk Filmskat (Danish Film Treasures), meanwhile, programmes Danish film classics. 

With the ambition of doubling the turnover of the current operation, Nordisk digital manager Christian Folden Lund has taken over as head of NF Direct, which is also open to investing in digital areas other than streaming services, and ticket and gift-card sales. “We are not locked into these activities, and we are continually exploring the market for new ideas that will fit well into what we are already doing,” Folden Lund concluded.