Appear in brief
2025 financial highlights
Revenues 800.9 MNOK +32.3% YoY Strong growth delivered in line with guidance, driven by broad based regional expansion & continued expansion within Tier 1 live sports & broadcasting customers | |
Gross margin 72.3 % +0.0% YoY Gross margin remained stable, reflecting margin improvements through increasing contribution of license revenue largely compensating the impact of U.S. tariffs | Free Cash Flow 64.2 MNOK +8.0% YoY Strong earnings and cash generation delivered free cash flow of NOK 64.2 million and further increased available liquidity |
Underlying EBITDAC 142.2 MNOK +15.4% YoY Underlying profitability and returns improved significantly, with underlying EBITDAC of NOK 142.2 million & a margin of 17.8%, within the future guided range of 17–20%. Supported by operating leverage & scaled commercial execution | |
Full Time Equivalents 204 +18.6% YoY Investing in people as we continue to expand our geographical footprint, and expand our product portfolio. | |
The pivots that changed everything
Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Appear designs and delivers high-capacity, sustainable solutions for the most demanding live broadcast media processing and delivery applications that include the capture, transport, and processing of live video from sports stadiums, concert arenas, and other venues to viewers with ultra-low latency (signal delay), ensuring superior video quality and reliability. Appear serves sports leagues and federations, broadcasters and streaming platforms, production service providers, and connectivity providers worldwide who rely on its technology to geographically interconnect and deliver the world’s most demanding and valuable live productions, where performance is everything and trust is built over years.
Appear was founded in 2004 with an ambition to simplify an increasingly complex linear broadcast landscape through modular hardware, establishing Appear as a strong Nordic player in video delivery to end viewers. In 2006 the launch of the XC Platform became a cornerstone for cable, satellite and terrestrial operators, offering advanced media compression, stream processing, and scrambling capabilities.
By 2018 the industry needs had shifted and Appear made its first strategic pivot to focus up the video processing value chain, launching the X Platform a new product family designed specifically for live sports acquisition and remote production workflows. The X Platform built on Appear’s modular and flexible architecture, redesigning the processing modules, interfaces and capabilities to bring innovation, high-quality and operational efficiency to the market.
In 2021, Appear executed it’s second decisive pivot away from the indirect reseller go-to-market approach to a direct global go-to-market model establishing direct sales organisations in the two largest live production markets, the UK and the USA. At the same time, Appear built pre- and post-sales integration capabilities to meet the growing complexity of live production environments. This brought Appear significantly closer to highly valuable customers, strengthened long-term strategic partnerships, and positioned Appear at the core of some of the world’s most critical live broadcast infrastructures.
The results of this strategic repositioning have been clear and consistent. Since 2021, Appear has delivered 33% revenue CAGR because it anticipated change, invested ahead of the curve, and executed a comprehensive transformation across technology, organisation, and commercial strategy. The investment in proximity to customers has strengthened our innovation engine, deepened customer relationships, and built a scalable global platform designed for long term leadership.
2025 was a milestone for Appear delivering strong financial performance and strategic expansion.
We delivered solid growth while strengthening profitability and maintaining financial discipline. Revenue reached NOK 800.9 million, growing 32.3 percent compared to the previous year. Underlying EBITDAC increased to NOK 142.2 million, representing a margin of 17.8 percent. EBIT more than doubled to NOK 170.7 million. Net profit increased by 86 percent to NOK 129.2 million.
At the end of the year, Appear held NOK 499 million in available liquidity, had no interest-bearing debt, and maintained an equity ratio of 68.7 percent. These results demonstrate that Appear is growing responsibly. We are building a company that combines expansion with financial strength, operational discipline, and long-term resilience.
In November 2025, Appear listed on Euronext Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker “APR”. We entered the public markets as a profitable company with strong cash flow, a healthy balance sheet, and a clear strategy for sustained long-term growth. Now in 2026, the key drivers behind our transformation remain strong. Growth continues to be supported by increasing demand for premium live sports, the shift toward remote production and IP-based workflows, and rising expectations for high quality live experiences. These trends are accelerating and provide a solid foundation for continued expansion. With a proven platform, ongoing product innovation, and a strong track record of execution, Appear is well positioned to sustain its growth in the years ahead.
The market we are winning in
Appear is positioned at the core of the rapidly evolving live media production ecosystem, delivering high performance solutions across Acquisition, Processing, and Consumption. With more than 20 years of industry experience, the company has developed a platform portfolio, including the X, VX and XC, supporting mission critical production workflows from on-site capture to cloud-based processing and global content delivery.
The global live production market is growing at a single digit rate overall based on the Devencroft database. Rising consumption of live sports, news, and real‑time entertainment across both traditional broadcast and OTT platforms, combined with rapid changes in production and distribution technologies, is reshaping the market. Within this shift, high growth opportunities are emerging in areas such as cloud‑based production and transport over managed and unmanaged networks, which are expanding at double‑digit rates.
Importantly, Appear is also achieving double‑digit growth in more traditional static segments such as contribution encoding, where we continue to take market share from incumbents through superior product performance and strong commercial execution.
Key sub-segment for growth opportunities
Expanding leadership in Contribution Encoding
Appear continues to take market share in Contribution Encoding, supported by ongoing enhancements to the X Platform’s compression performance and the introduction of the X5 Platform. Today, we are among the top five providers globally in Contribution Encoding, a position built on performance, reliability, and operational efficiency. The launch of the X5 Platform has further expanded our reach. It opens access to new customer segments, particularly regional broadcasters and operators with more cost sensitive production environments. This materially increases volume potential, strengthening both growth and scale advantages.
Enabling the shift to IP production
An IP gateway enables customers to transition from traditional digital video broadcast infrastructure to scalable, IP-based production environments. Demand for our IP gateway functionality continues to grow, driven by the structural industry migration from digital video to IP workflows. As broadcasters and production companies modernise their infrastructure, they require reliable, high-performance solutions to bridge legacy systems with next generation architectures. The introduction of 100Gbps IP interfacing in the X Platform in 2025 further strengthens our position. It enables support for next-generation high bandwidth workflows, including Ultra HD and high-density contribution, and positions Appear to capture growth in large scale IP production facilities and data center-based deployments.
The migration from satellite to IP-based contribution
Appear’s industry leading Secure Reliable Transport (SRT) protocol implementation in the X Platform, with support being extended to VX, enables broadcasters and content owners to migrate from satellite-based contribution to IP delivery over managed and public IP networks. This transition represents a structural industry shift. Moving transport to IP reduces distribution costs, increases operational flexibility, and enables more scalable production models. For Appear, this drives demand not only for transport functionality, but also for compression and encoding solutions. As customers modernise their contribution infrastructure, attach rates increase, creating incremental revenue opportunities across the platform.
Entering the high growth Processing market
With the launch of the VX Platform in 2025, Appear enters the Processing market, including both production and processing as two sub-segments, one of the fastest growing areas in broadcast infrastructure as workflows shift toward software defined and cloud native architectures. Throughout 2025, we invested in both product development and organisational capability to ensure a strong market entry. This included building out dedicated product management and aligning resources around scalable delivery models. These investments establish the foundation for commercial rollout and growth from 2026 onward.
Sustaining strength in Primary Distribution
The X Platform continues to play a strong role in Primary Distribution, leveraging its natural adjacency to contribution encoding and the processing capabilities of the XC Platform. By combining high performance compression with integrated processing functionality, Appear delivers a cohesive and efficient solution across the distribution chain. This platform synergy strengthens our competitive position and reinforces our relevance as customers modernise both contribution and distribution infrastructure.
Structural market dynamics driving growth
Appear’s growth is built on structural market forces that are long term and persistent. These are not short-term trends or event driven spikes. They are fundamental shifts in how live content is produced and delivered. When these structural drivers combine with clear customer triggers, such as major events, end-of-life deadlines, or new facility builds, they convert into infrastructure investment and revenue.
Production value drivers
The value of live sports and premium entertainment continues to increase as competition between broadcasters and streaming platforms intensifies. Higher content rights values lead directly to higher production standards, greater reliability requirements, and larger infrastructure investments. Live content cannot fail, and that reality drives non-discretionary spending through the Contribution, Processing, and Consumption value chain.
At the same time, the transfer of media rights between right holders typically leads to infrastructure refresh cycles. New entrants require new deployments, and incumbents upgrade to remain competitive. This dynamic raise technical standards across the market.
In parallel, remote production and IP-based workflows have lowered the cost of producing live events. As a result, more regional sports, leagues, esports, corporate events and regional news are being remotely produced at broadcast grade quality. This expands the total volume of live content and increases demand for scalable, high-performance infrastructure.
Operational efficiency drivers
Alongside growth in content value, the industry is undergoing a broad infrastructure modernisation cycle. The shift from digital video (SDI) to IP-based workflows represents a generational replacement wave. Most broadcasters still operate in hybrid environments, meaning most of this transition is still ahead of us.
Remote and cloud production models are now standard practice. These models reduce onsite cost but increase demand for reliable, high-density contribution and centralised processing capacity.
At the same time, legacy platforms are reaching end-of-life. Systems installed seven to ten years ago, including first generation IP deployments, are now approaching support and performance limits. These replacement cycles create predictable procurement windows.
Sustainability and energy efficiency are also becoming formal procurement criteria. Power consumption, rack density, and data centre footprint now carry financial and regulatory weight. Efficient infrastructure is no longer optional.
Strategic implication for Appear
Together, these drivers create sustained and multi-year demand for broadcast infrastructure. Production value expansion increases the scale and ambition of live production. Operational efficiency pressures accelerate the redesign and replacement of existing systems. When these structural forces intersect with defined customer triggers, investment decisions follow. This is the core logic of our strategic commercial framework: structural drivers create demand, triggers determine timing, and disciplined commercial execution converts both into predictable revenue growth.
Platform leadership driving structural growth
Appear’s go-to-market strategy is anchored in the position of the X Platform as the industry standard for Acquisition in global live sports production. We serve national and international broadcasters, streaming platforms, sports leagues and federations, as well as production and connectivity providers who depend on resilient, high-performance infrastructure for premium live content.
At the core of our model is a disciplined land and expand strategy. Initial platform deployments establish a mission-critical footprint within customer workflows. As media rights expand, production requirements grow, or infrastructure is modernised, customers typically scale capacity, upgrade performance, and extend functionality within the X Platform. These drives repeat investment cycles and increasing lifetime value across our installed base, as well as entry into new customers, build trust and brand recognition as a positive flywheel.
Our growing global footprint further enables cross-selling of our X5 and VX software portfolio, expanding from our core Acquisition market into broader, software defined workflows in the Processing segment. Strong brand recognition, direct enterprise sales engagement, and deep industry presence reinforce consistent pipeline generation across EMEA, the Americas, and our newly established Asia Pacific operations.
Customer revenue highlights
- Number of active customers (growing from 184 in 2023 to 267 in 2025)
- Top 10 customer revenue concentration has remained consistent, 53% in 2025 vs 51% in 2024 of recognised revenue
- The number of customers delivering revenue greater than MNOK 10 pear year grew from 10 customers in 2023, to 13 customers in 2024 and to 19 customers in 2025
- New customer brands continue to increase as we expand our commercial sales presence from 23 new in 2023, 24 new in 2024 and 66 new in 2025.
Growth priorities for 2026
In 2026, we will continue to execute on targeted growth initiatives across customer expansion, product and geography:
- Increase share of premium live sports events by deepening engagement with international broadcasters, streaming platforms and sports leagues across all regions, leveraging our core X Platform as the preferred standard in Acquisition.
- Expand geographic coverage by extending our direct sales model into key Asia Pacific and Middle East territories. This expansion will be supported by the launch of a structured Channel Partner program focused on a broader range of live sports production and regional market penetration.
- Drive account expansion within existing strategic broadcasters accounts, by broadening our footprint into live news broadcasting and their Tier 2 sports events. These segments are increasingly addressable through our X5 Platform and enhanced by new live production and processing capabilities within our VX software portfolio.
With the direct presence in Asia-Pacific and plans to extend our commercial presence into UAE, Appear is well positioned to capture opportunities linked to major regional sporting events in H2 2026 and 2027, including the Rugby League World Cup, Rugby Union World Cup, Commonwealth Games, FIBA Basketball World Cup and the Asian Football Cup.
Scalable revenue growth: demonstrating our land-and-expand strategy
Our land-and-expand strategy is exemplified by the progression of a strategic North American sports broadcaster relationship secured in 2024. This case demonstrates how initial platform entry, when embedded in mission-critical workflows, drives multi-year revenue progression and increasing lifetime value.
Initial platform entry (2024)
In 2024, following a competitive tender against an established incumbent, Appear secured a multi-year agreement to deploy our core X Platform, including a long-term support agreement of up to seven years. The initial order totalled MNOK 30 and covered deployments into the customer’s core production hubs and selected field production units supporting key college sports events. At that stage, we estimate Appear supported less than 10% of the broadcaster’s total live sports event footprint. This first deployment established Appear within mission critical production workflows and created a foundation for long term expansion.
Expansion across Tier 1 events (2025)
In H2 2025, the customer selected the X Platform to replace additional remote production infrastructure supporting Tier 1 sports events, including a major North American sporting event. The order included further upgrades to core production hubs to accommodate increased live feeds from stadiums and event venues, with an additional order value of MNOK 36. By year end 2025, we estimate our platform supports approximately 15-20% of the customer’s total live sports event coverage, effectively doubling our footprint within 18 months.
Portfolio expansion and recurring revenue (2026-2028)
In 2026, we are engaged in several infrastructure refresh and new build projects that will extend our footprint across both Tier 1 and Tier 2 sports events. The customer has a substantial Tier 2 events portfolio, now addressable through our X5 Platform and has indicated plans to begin testing our VX software portfolio in Q2 2026. We expect this to begin generating incremental recurring software revenue from early Q3 2026. From 2026 to 2028, we see significant further expansion potential as the broadcaster continues to refresh and modernise its acquisition and live production processing infrastructure. Based on our market insight, we estimate the customer’s annual addressable spend to be between MNOK 80-120.
Revenue mix evolution (2028-2030)
Beyond 2028, our strategy is to:
- Continue expanding X Platform deployments across event locations
- Increase recurring revenue penetration within core production centres
- Drive adoption of VX live production processing software as feature sets expand and workflows become increasingly software-defined
Through this expansion, we aim to evolve the revenue profile from predominantly one-time product revenue in 2025 to a balanced mix of approximately 60% one-time and 40% recurring revenue by 2030 within this customer relationship.
Broader commercial momentum
In 2025, Appear also secured significant initial engagements with two additional Tier 1 sports broadcasters and established strategic positions with two major global streaming platforms with substantial live sports rights portfolios. These early-stage deployments represent modest initial footprints but create long-term expansion potential. Our proven land-and-expand strategy, supported by the addition of X5 to broaden event coverage and VX to enable software-based production processing positions Appear to systematically scale revenue across broadcasters, sport leagues, streaming platforms, and production and connectivity partners globally.
Appear product portfolio
X Platform, our core growth engine
Appear sees the future of live production as a hybrid model. At the event site, production depends on dedicated, compact, and highly reliable hardware. At the same time, central production environments are increasingly moving toward software defined and virtualised COTS-based architectures.
The X Platform sits at the centre of this model and is a core strategic growth engine for Appear. It combines purpose-built hardware with integrated software to deliver ultra-low latency contribution, high performance, and strong reliability, with a compelling total cost of ownership. Its modular architecture enables customers to scale from entry level deployments to the most complex international live production environments. This flexibility makes the platform relevant across the full spectrum of live sports, news, and major event production workflows.
In 2025, in Europe, Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales has deployed Appear solutions to support high profile football workflows, including projects with LaLiga. Telefónica has highlighted the need for flexible, high-density contribution and distribution infrastructure capable of handling large volumes of live feeds while maintaining operational simplicity. The modularity of the X Platform enables this balance, delivering performance without adding complexity.
Similarly, Orange Slovakia has implemented Appear technology in centralised production and Video Assisted Referee (VAR) related workflows, demonstrating the platform’s ability to support distributed live environments where latency, synchronisation, and uptime are critical.
These deployments illustrate a consistent theme: the X Platform is chosen where performance is non-negotiable, density matters, and operational risk must be minimised. It operates at the core of live ecosystems where failure is not an option.
In 2025, we announced the X5 Platform, extending our reach into regional segments. X5 is a compact, cost-efficient, and scalable form factor chassis designed for distributed production and direct-to-consumer workflows. It significantly expands our addressable market and increases volume driven growth potential with key strategic accounts looking at producing more Tier 2 events, but also by opening new opportunities in adjacent markets which require professional grade live production without access to conventional broadcast infrastructure.
With continued development of the X Platform with new hardware modules supporting all major compression standards and both SDI and IP interfaces, we are reinforcing our position in a leader in live production technology in global live production environments.
The X, X5, and broader technology roadmap position Appear for continued geographic and vertical expansion. The platform supports growth across Acquisition and Production Processing making it a durable, scalable foundation for long-term revenue growth.
The VX Platform, extending Appear into Software defined production
VX marks Appear’s entry into the live Production Processing market, a multi-billion-dollar opportunity adjacent to our core contribution business. As outlined in our product strategy, the production and processing sub-segment represent a significant and largely untapped addressable market, with processing alone estimated at approximately USD 2.4 billion and the broader processing opportunity materially larger.
Strategically, this move is both offensive and defensive. To protect our Acquisition segment and fulfil our long-term growth ambitions, Appear must become a prominent player in the Processing market. It sits in the middle of the live video value chain, directly between Acquisition and Distribution, two domains where Appear already holds strong positions.
VX is not a single product. It is a modular, software-based platform designed to support scalable media processing and full live production workflows. It operates off-venue, ingesting live feeds and transforming them into premium live content suitable for broadcast and streaming. The platform architecture includes media gateway functionality, edge processing, and live production applications such as switching, audio mixing, graphics, replay and multiviewer.
The industry is structurally moving toward COTS-based infrastructure, hybrid data centre architectures, and cloud-enabled workflows. VX is designed to operate across on-premise, data centre and hybrid environments, complementing our hardware-based X Platform at the edge while enabling software-defined elasticity centrally.
Importantly, VX follows a sequenced rollout model. Our ambition is to extend our live production processing capabilities to ultimately support top tier modular live production workflows. Over time, we’ll add processing applications expanding the serviceable addressable market (SAM) step-by-step. SAM growth will therefore follow the structured rollout of the VX roadmap. This staged development approach balances investment, risk and value creation, ensuring that each milestone represents a commercially viable release with improving competitive positioning.
Strategically, VX delivers four key outcomes. First, it expands Appear into a high growth, adjacent segment within the Production Processing market. Second, it increases share-of-wallet with existing global strategic customers by extending our relevance beyond contribution into the core production layer. Third, it diversifies revenue beyond hardware centric products, reducing concentration risk tied to a single segment. Fourth, it introduces subscription-based and SaaS-oriented commercial models, increasing recurring revenue potential and improving long-term revenue visibility.
General availability for the first version is planned for H1 2026. As adoption scales across sports, news and event production, VX is targeted to represent 10 to 20% of group revenue over time. This reflects both market expansion and deeper penetration of the live production value chain.
VX evolves Appear to a broader live production technology platform leader, bridging Acquisition, Processing and Consumption within a unified architecture.
XC Platform, phasing out of the Consumption market
The XC Platform is the product on which Appear was built and has served as a trusted head-end solution for broadcast distribution and IPTV networks for more than two decades.
It provides high density media compression, stream processing, scrambling and descrambling, multiplexing, and redundancy across cable, satellite, terrestrial, and IPTV infrastructures. Over time, it has powered live linear channel distribution for service providers globally and established Appear’s reputation for reliability and performance.
Today, the XC Platform is in managed sunset mode. The market for traditional Consumption infrastructure is gradually declining as the industry transitions toward IP-based and software-defined architectures. As a result, Appear is no longer making material development investments in XC.
XC remains a stable legacy portfolio, providing ongoing cash flow and long-standing customer relationships, while Appear’s growth investments are focused on X, X5, and the VX platform.
Our competitive moat
Appear success comes from our technical architectural advantage. For more than 20 years, we have invested continuously in platform development across compression, high-speed hardware design, IP networking, FPGA engineering, and systems integration. This has created a deep and defensible technology foundation that competitors cannot replicate quickly.
With our modular approach customers can start small, scale capacity, and upgrade functionality without replacing infrastructure. This reduces complexity and protects long-term investment. The custom multi-processor architecture used in the X Platform combines CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, SoCs, and ASICs, allowing ultra-low latency, high channel density, and superior performance per watt at scale compared to generic CPU-based systems.
Finally, we integrate compression, connectivity, processing, security, and redundancy into a single cohesive platform. Where others rely on multiple devices, we deliver functional completeness in one compact form factor, reducing failure points and operational risk.
The combination of our architectural flexibility, hardware-accelerated performance, and integrated functionality together with our broad installed-base forms a durable competitive moat, proven in the world’s most demanding live production environments.
Disciplined capital allocation for profitable, high return growth
The deployment of IPO proceeds is guided by a clear financial objective: to expand Appear’s addressable market, improve margin mix, increase recurring revenue, and generate disciplined returns on invested capital. Our capital allocation approach is structured, product-led, and financially focused. Growth will be driven through a balanced combination of targeted M&A and continued organic investment, with each decision evaluated against strategic fit, margin impact, recurring revenue contribution, and expected ROIC.
A core priority is targeted, high-return acquisitions. We will focus on smaller, technology-driven tuck-ins that strengthen our position in adjacent processing segments and accelerate the VX roadmap. These acquisitions are intended to deepen our product portfolio, increase share-of-wallet with existing global strategic customers, and expand our exposure to software and SaaS-based revenue streams. Transactions will be structured with performance-based earn-outs and clear return thresholds to protect downside risk and ensure capital discipline.
At the same time, continued investment in our product platforms, particularly VX, is expected to improve margin mix over time. Processing and software-based solutions typically carry structurally higher gross margins than hardware only contribution. As the share of Processing revenue increases, we expect a positive impact on blended gross margin and operating leverage. The expansion into software and subscription-based offerings also supports a gradual increase in recurring revenue. Over time, this is expected to improve revenue visibility, reduce event-driven cyclicality, and strengthen cash flow stability. A higher proportion of recurring revenue enhances the quality of earnings and supports long-term valuation resilience.
Capital will therefore be deployed not simply to grow revenue, but to upgrade the structural profile of the business. The combined effect of disciplined M&A, organic innovation, and software expansion is expected to broaden Appear’s serviceable market, improve margin composition, increase recurring revenue share, and support sustainable, profitable growth with attractive returns on capital.
2025 significant events
Industry recognition
International Broadcasting Convention (Amsterdam):
- Award: Best of Show TV Tech– Six300
- Award: Best of Show (TVB Europe) – Hardware Accelerated SRT
- Number 1 Share of Voice
National Association of Broadcasters (Las Vegas):
- Award: Best of Show – VX Mediat Gateway
- Award: Best of Show – X5
- Award: CSI Award – Best Network Delivery Technology
- Award: Product of the year – X5
- Number 2 Share of Voice
Asia-Pacific Broadcasting+ Award Sport Broadcasting
- Appear won the Sports Broadcasting – Thailand accolade, highlighting its effort in advancing how soccer games are officiated in Thailand.
Customer stories
beIN ASIA PACIFIC Enhances Broadcast Distribution and International Contribution with Appear X Platform Deployments.
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World Archery Brings Production In-House with Appear’s X Platform & SRT Solutions to Deliver High-Quality, Cost-Efficient Live Event Coverage.
Telefónica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA) and Appear selected by LaLiga to power Spain’s new contribution & distribution network from 32 stadiums for La Liga 1 &2.
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PSSI Increases Investments in Appear Video Transmission Technology to Strengthen Live Broadcast Capabilities.
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