Jonas Karlén has been named as Executive Vice President and CEO Viaplay Group Sweden, with previous the co-chief execs switching to other roles.
With Karlén in place, Christian Albeck and Johan Johansson will return to their roles as EVP, Content Acquisition, and EVP and Group CFO, respectively. They previously shared the top role as co-CEOs.
Karlén is well known at Viaplay, having been CEO of a previous incarnation of Viaplay Sweden, and held senior management roles at Viaplay predecessor MTG. He was also CEO of channels group Viasat and of Swedish companies Adlibris and Linas Matkasse.
“Jonas combines strong operational and strategic leadership with broad industry experience, and a deep understanding of our business and audience in Sweden,” said Viaplay Group President and CEO Jørgen Madsen Lindemann.
“His background will be highly valuable as we continue to focus on relevant local content, strong commercial execution and sustainable growth. I would like to thank Johan and Christian for their continued dedication and for the excellent work they have done leading our Swedish operations over the period.”
Karlén said he was “pleased to return to Viaplay Group and to lead the Swedish organisation,” adding: “Viaplay is an iconic Nordic brand with a passionate and talented team, and together we will continue to strengthen our streaming service and our well-established TV and radio operations in Sweden, in close collaboration with our advertising and distribution partners. I look forward to working with the team to sharpen our local offering and deliver even greater value to viewers, advertisers and partners.”
It has been a calmer year for Viaplay in 2025, with financial strife and corporate issues less prominent than in recent times. Two weeks ago, it finalized its acquisition of Swedish satellite TV group Allente, paying SEK1.1B ($100M) for the 50% of the business it didn’t already own.
Viaplay claims around 6.5 million subscribers to its streaming service, which operates across the Nordics and in several other territories.
