Vionlabs expands into Americas with key appointments

Swedish OTT service provider Vionlabs is expanding into the Americas with the appointment of Kevin Odden (pictured) to lead its commercial operations in the region.

The company is also expanding its advisory board with the appointments of Anette Schaefer and Hanno Basse.

Odden joins as president of Americas sales, and is a specialist in digital media and emerging markets. He brings over eight years of experience at the forefront of streamed content delivery in the Americas, having previously led commercial activity for CDN provider Limelight Networks.

Schaefer, previously head of Deutsche Telekom’s TV business and founder of industry analysis firm BIG Picture, is one of the leading industry advisors to telecom and media companies in Europe.

Basse brings a similar level of experience, and currently serves as president of decentralised media infrastructure at app developer Live Planet. He has worked with a range of companies across the US and Europe, including ProSiebenSat.1 Media, DIRECTV and 20th Century Fox Film Corp.

Marcus Bergström, CEO, Vionlabs said: “I am hugely excited to welcome Kevin, Anette and Hanno to the Vionlabs team and the combined experience they bring is a huge asset to the company. I am delighted that they have chosen Vionlabs and this is testament to the fact that our content discovery platform offers a true step-change for the industry and offers substantial new market opportunities.”

Odden said: “Vionlabs is pushing the boundaries of what is possible in content discovery.  Its platform solves an issue that has frustrated viewers for years and the benefits to operators across the Americas are clear. I have been incredibly impressed with the depth and knowledge of the team and I am delighted to be tasked with leading its activity in the Americas.”

Schaefer said: “I am very excited about the Vionlabs platform. Having followed the development of TV offerings in the telecoms industry across Europe for over a decade, the time is right for enhanced content discovery.” 

Basse said: “We’ve seen a golden age for content over the last few years and we are now entering the age of content discovery. Vionlabs offers the most advanced content fingerprint platform available today.”