The seasoned Swedish TV executive will be joining Nent Group’s streaming service Viaplay early 2022 and will be reporting to Louise Faerch, VP of Viaplay & Viafree Programming.

Mowbray has worked since 2008 for Swedish pubcaster SVT as head of acquisitions. His earlier jobs include channel editor at Canal+ (2004-2006) and head of Channel 4 International in the UK between 1986-1998.

Speaking about his new position at Viaplay as head of acquisitions for series and Kids content in the Nordics, Mowbray 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.”

Mowbray’s appointment follows the consolidation earlier this month of Nent Group's global content sales organisation for Viaplay Originals, to maximise its return on content investment. Senior UK sales and marketing executive Alexandra Aldred - formerly at Miramax, Paramount Pictures and The Walt Disney Company was appointed VP & Head of Content Sales. She is joined by the group’s new senior acquisition & distribution manager Peter Torkelsson, former sales exec for The Walt Disney Company Sweden and earlier at SF Studios.

In its Q3 report, Viaplay posted a 28% year on year subscriber growth to 3.6 million.

In the latest quarter alone, 322,000 new customers joined the SVOD service including 286,000 in the international markets and 36,000 from the Nordics. In its statement, the group announced a 10% organic revenue growth year on year in Q3, with reported sales of SEK 3,054 million. Viaplay was its largest quarterly revenue contributor, accounting for 36% of overall sales. Revenue for Viaplay in the Nordics was up 14% through the 17% year on year subscriber growth in the region.

In terms of geographical expansion, after the launch in Poland last August - its 9^th and largest market so far, the group will conquer the US in December, with an initial focus on Nordic content offering, followed by the Netherlands early 2022. The target is to launch in five new markets by 2023 and to reach 12 million total subscribers by 2025.

Content-wise, Viaplay Originals drove streaming viewing time -up 38% year on year, while sports coverage of the Bundesliga, English Premier League, UEFA competitions and Formula One, boosted overall sports viewership.

“The pandemic has clearly accelerated the adoption of streaming services and increased the demand for high quality content, indifferent of language,” said NENT Group’s president and CEO Anders Jensen who remains committed to delivering “the best experiences” to his customers.