New Network

Combining their experiences, Google and YouTube Sweden CEO Stina Honkamaa, former TV4 program director Malte Andreasson, TV production veterans Jan Zachrisson and Oscar Höglund and Bonnier Growth Media are joining forces to create United Screens, a new multichannel network that brings rights holders, advertisers and YouTube viewers together online. Honkamaa will serve as CEO for the new company.

“In a world where viewers are demanding more and more digital video content, in and on every thinkable format, screen and channel, we’re creating unique possibilities for content creators, advertisers and consumers,” says Ulrika Saxon, CEO for Bonnier Growth Media. “I’m convinced that United Screens, and the dream team behind it, have an amazing chance to take advantage of these fantastic possibilities.”

Currently, a lot of the content from media and production companies in Sweden isn’t available on the Internet, primarily due to copyright issues and a lack of effective licensing models. United Screens addresses this problem with a new business model that allows copyright holders to share advertising revenue with United Screens and YouTube. Viewers will have access to both traditional TV content and new material produced exclusively for United Screens, neatly organized across a diverse range of channels.

“Those media and production companies that we have already contracted with and who have seen our business model consider us a valuable partner with a solution to a problem that they’ve been trying to solve for many years,” says Jan Zachrisson, who will serve as board chair of United Screens. “They are best at producing content for traditional TV, a format that is and will continue to be appreciated by viewers. With our combined experience, we are best at providing digital content, management and business models that aren’t merely adapted for the web but were created from the beginning for the web.”