Sweden: Ira Gladnikoff, new head of Viasat

Anders Jensen, MTG EVP, Chairman of the Nordic Entertainment Management Board and MTG Sweden CEO: ‘We wish Jonas well in his new ventures and thank him for his nine years at MTG and leading the successful development of Viaplay. It is great that we have a ready made successor in Ira, who has extensive experience in the online video entertainment space and, as CCO of Viaplay, has been responsible for so much of Viaplay’s commercial successes.

‘Viaplay is a fantastic entertainment product created by a hugely talented team that works very closely with our other Nordic entertainment businesses and family of brands – Viasat, Viasport, Viafree, and Viareal. MTG is unique in combining the best of linear and on-demand entertainment so that everyone can watch their favourite shows whenever and wherever they want’.

Jonas Karlén: ‘It has been an amazing experience for me to lead the Viaplay team that has focused relentlessly on constantly developing the content offering and user experience, making Viaplay the leading Nordic streaming service. I have loved every minute and I will continue to be a huge Viaplay fan’.

Ira Gladnikoff: ‘Viaplay is a passion of mine and I couldn’t be more excited about the opportunity to lead such a great team. We provide our subscribers with a more varied streamed content experience than any other service, and there are so many opportunities to work with our fellow MTG Nordic entertainment brands to deliver even more integrated and engaging entertainment experiences – this is just the beginning’.

Viaplay grew its customer base by four times between 2013 and 2016, and grew its revenues by five times. In both 2015 and 2016, Swedish quality rating agency Svenskt Kvalitetsindex named Viaplay the streaming service in Sweden with the most satisfied customers; in 2016, Viaplay was also recognized as the best Apple TV app in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.