SVT head of acquisitions Stephen Mowbray joins NENT Group in Viaplay role

Nordic Entertainment (NENT) Group has poached Stephen Mowbray, head of acquisitions at Swedish pubcaster SVT, for a role at its Viaplay streaming service.

Stephen Mowbray

Mowbray has been appointed head of series and kids at NENT Group and will be responsible for acquired series and kids’ content for all of Viaplay’s Nordic markets.

The appointment is effective from start of 2022. He will be based in Stockholm and report to Louise Faerch, VP of Viaplay & Viafree Programming.

Mowbray, who has been head of acquisitions at SVT since 2008, said: “I am looking forward to joining the positive energy and ambition of the NENT Group team and to making Viaplay the go-to destination for the world’s best acquired series.”

From 1986 to 1998 Mowbray was head of Channel 4 International, running the commercially funded UK pubcaster’s scheme to build relations with independent producers and represent their rights internationally. He pitched finished programmes and programmes at pre- and coproduction stage to key partners in North America and Australia.

He has since had stints at European broadcasters TV7 and Canal+ before joining SVT in 2008, initially as a commissioning editor.

NENT is in the midst of a global rollout of its Viaplay streaming service and is aiming for six million subscribers in the Nordic region by the end of 2025.

A launch in the UK and Canada is pencilled in by 2023.

The SVoD platform will first launch in the UK in the second half of next year, before arriving in Canada, Germany, Austria and Switzerland during 2023. This will take the total number of countries where Viaplay is available to 16, beating the target of 15 that NENT announced last November.

As a result, the group has also upped its 2025 subscriber target to 12 million, including six million from overseas markets.

Viaplay, which first launched in Scandinavia, where it is the leading streamer, offers original series such as Pørni, Shadowplay, Honour and Swedish Dicks. It recently landed in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, and is soon to launch in the US and the Netherlands.

At debut, Viaplay’s offering in the five new markets will comprise Nordic, local and international series, films, documentaries and kids content.

Source:C21Media