theibcdaily
Executive Summary 49 Taking the pulse Cross platform
master
Jette Nygaard Andersen EVP & CEO, MTG Nordic & Baltic Pay TV Broadcast
Operations, Modern Times Group Region: Scandinavia
Interviewed by: Ann-Marie Corvin
“The key to success is
differentiation”
Jette Nygaard Andersen has worked for MTG since 2003 and EVP & CEO of Nordic and Baltic pay tv since 2013. Before joining MTG, she was a strategy management consultant at Accenture, and also held positions at the Maersk Group.
What has been your online and on demand strategy, and how does this fit with your linear TV propositions? We have a broad offer across a large spectrum of platforms, both the subscription as well as the free-TV business. This gives us ability to negotiate deals across all platforms, which we believe is one of the steps of winning in the future. We were early in launching our first subscription
VOD service in the Scandinavian market in 2007 (Viasat On- Demand – now Viaplay) which is offered as a complimentary TV Everywhere service to our own DTH satellite subscribers, but can also be offered as a standalone SVOD service. This has given us access to new customers and has helped build our subscriber base.
Has the value chain for pay TV operators been disrupted by IP players? Obviously there is more eyeball competition. The key to success is differentiating and product development. We do this in several ways: by producing and showing local content, being the very best at sports (F1, NHL and Superligaen Denmark to name a few); by our
premium movie deals across all platforms (SPT, Walt Disney and NBCU), as well as continuing to launch new products – the latest being a very popular download-to-go service. We can also show our content across all platforms.
What’s more popular with your subscribers – binge viewing or weekly transmissions? There’s room for both. To mark MTG’s premiere of the series 24: Live Another Day
,we held a
binge-viewing world record attempt setting out to beat the previous record. It succeeded – we are now in the Guinness Books of Records following 90 hours of binge viewing (set at MTG HQ in Stockholm, with actor Kiefer Sutherland
cheering on Twitter). Personally, I love binge-viewing series with my husband for a relaxing evening. But absolutely not for 90 hours straight!
Is broadcasting in danger or in bad health? We used to be bound by our distribution platforms. Now we are limited only by our ability to seize and package great content and engage our consumers. The massive expansion of consumer time being spent on media is largely additive with TV, so we maintain a strong position. For example, during the Winter Olympics 2014 we achieved record free-TV audience shares of 60 percent in Sweden.
How does the Scandinavian market differ from, say,
Germany, when it comes to linear versus online viewing? There are two things driving the premium and pay OTT market: broadband penetration and a high pay-TV penetration. In both areas the Nordics holds the upper hand. Almost 90 percent of all Nordic households have a great internet connection. In Sweden, every third household has a 100 Mbps connection, and fibre roll out is extensive. Our customers are used to paying for TV. As an example, almost two out of three households have pay TV in Sweden. Tablet growth in Sweden is up 45 per cent compared to last year. And every third Swede watches OTT every single day.
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