Exclusive Interview: MTG’s Jørgen Madsen Lindemann

PREMIUM: Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, the president and CEO of Modern Times Group (MTG), tells TV Europe about how the group is continuing to drive innovation in both its digital and linear entertainment platforms.

TV EUROPE: You took the reins of MTG in 2012, a year when broadcasters were just beginning to feel the ripples of how digital would transform the content business. What were some of the steps you needed to take to evolve MTG from a linear broadcasting group into a multiplatform media company?
LINDEMANN: What we identified fairly early on was that there were opportunities in all the new distribution platforms that were beginning in our markets. The OTT space particularly was interesting because of the broadband pipelines we had, so we understood that there were more outlets for our products. Luckily we had strong sports content, strong locally produced content, and then of course strong cooperation with many of the content providers in the region. We took that content and then offered it to many more customers around the region. In our markets, you are not allowed to put up a [satellite] dish inside the city, so to be able to capture the customers inside the city, you have to team up with cable operators and IPTV operators—that has its limits. With broadband, you can reach the entire population. On top of our satellite and third-party network subscribers, there are all the customers for Viaplay, our OTT product.

We have also invested content-wise. We have 28 production companies in 15 countries now, and they’re growing. More and more companies are looking at how to differentiate themselves with locally relevant stories.

We also knew that as a traditional broadcaster, we might not understand the whole system around the social-media landscape. So we hired a lot of people with these competencies. We created a company called MTGx, which is a digital hub for our businesses. We got the right people on board with the right capabilities—storytellers and technicians and so forth—to build the infrastructure.

We understood as well that this is a global game, so we looked outside [our markets]. We had acquired the largest MCN in the Nordics, but we wanted to become even bigger since the opportunity was there to tell global stories. So we invested in Zoomin, which is the leading multichannel network in Europe, the fifth-largest in the world, with something like 2.5 billion views per month. It has 2,000 video journalists attached to the business posting 400 news stories a day, selling to all kinds of publishers and producing with Yahoo! in France and India. We also invested in Splay [Scandinavia’s leading MCN]. They are finding a lot of new advertisement models. Only 25 percent of their revenue comes from advertising; the rest comes from their influencers. One of the influencers recently launched a book, and 75 percent of her followers bought it!

Last but not least, we teamed up with the very skilled guys from Turtle Entertainment on eSports. Turtle is the leading eSports company in the world, producing the biggest leagues and tournaments. I was in Katowice in the middle of Poland with 113,000 youngsters for three days where they were playing games and watching games and so forth. It is a phenomenon that is growing very fast.

We’ve had an enormous transformation in the group in the last 12 months. It’s important for us that the capabilities stay within the company, so in acquisitions, the management [of the ventures acquired] is always on board. And we plan to grow these businesses together with the founders or management. That has been our focus.

TV EUROPE: What is the relationship between your broadcast assets and your production companies?
LINDEMANN: It goes without saying that a good story always wins, so you had better find it. You either acquire it and accept that you didn’t produce this fantastic, magnificent series, or you make an effort to produce your own product. That is what we are doing with Nice, our production group. A lot of the dramas we have produced are selling well. We also produced the biggest blockbuster movie in our markets recently. But that does not mean that there are no ideas outside that are super relevant that we need to buy. It is not necessarily a religion of having your own IP; it is a religion of being able to tell a unique story that differentiates you as a storyteller. It is a thrilling proposition if you can do that yourself and sell it and capitalize on it in more countries. We have Star Wars and Hunger Games on EST—those are not stories I’m able to tell! You have to accept that sometimes there are smarter people out there who are super strong at telling stories. And we can tell local stories. That should be our way of making sure that we are differentiating ourselves from [other platforms] in the country.

TV EUROPE: Several European broadcasters have said that U.S. shows are not doing as well as they used to in prime time. Has that been your experience as well?
LINDEMANN: It goes without saying that we need more and more local stories told in prime time—that is what we’re investing in now. American content is still strong, and it travels well on OTT. Of course, the locally produced content we have, which we window first on OTT and then on free TV, is doing very well. And then all the sport we have is helping us a lot as well. People talk about cannibalization—we see additions. We have the same base, and on top of that you have all the OTT [subscribers on Viaplay] and then on top of that we have launched Viafree, the biggest AVOD service in the market.

Viaplay needs locally produced content just like our free-TV operations do, so they co-finance productions. We have drama series that can go first on Viaplay and then on free TV. Viaplay can do that with other broadcasters as well. So we’re investing with the public broadcasters in drama to make sure we get even more locally told stories on the platform.

One of our very successful drama series, Black Widows, has been adapted to many of our territories. We took the script and transformed it into local stories with local actors in different countries. We sold it internationally as well. Viaplay was a big part of that show for our free-TV channels because it contributed to the production [budget] in the Nordic region.

TV EUROPE: How are you managing the escalating costs of top-tier sporting events?
LINDEMANN: You have to understand what is relevant for your viewers when it comes to traditional sports and their willingness to pay for it. It is important storytelling, and we continue to invest in it. What we would like to do is get many more customers for the sports we have, so when we have to extend all these rights, we come in with stronger revenue streams and customers bases that are more attractive for the rights holders.

TV EUROPE: What are the plans for MTG’s new global eSports channel, esportsTV?
LINDEMANN: It’s a fantastic opportunity for us. We’ve launched a 24/7 channel that is going to be the best because we have the best tournaments and the best leagues. The goal is for Turtle to have a promotion window for the eSports community. We see many more people participating in eSports globally. We fill stadiums in no time. We have DreamHack as well, which [organizes festivals that feature] a combination of games and music and so forth. When they announce their events, they are sold out within a few months. It’s a great opportunity that we will continue to invest in.