“The whole of Schibsted faces challenges from global competition, and we want to leverage the unique competitive advantages we have as a unified group. We are adapting our organization and creating joint units for consumer sales and advertising. More coordination across these areas will contribute to a proactive digital transformation,” says Didrik Munch, CEO of Schibsted Norge.
Readership revenues are becoming increasingly important to all the media houses, and the new digital business models provide new opportunities for customer insight and product development. As well as assisting the media houses in this work, the new unit for consumer sales will perform and manage operational tasks in areas such as customer relationship management and analysis. The new consumer sales unit will be headed by Karl Vestli (45), who has held the position of Director, Consumer Sales in Aftenposten since January 2012. Previous to that, he was Circulation Director in Dagens Næringsliv and worked as a consultant in Accenture.
As a joint entity, the advertising unit will have responsibility for developing optimal advertising products that focus on digital network products (data-driven products) through shared technology. These products will utilize data and inventory across Schibsted and optimize the Group’s total inventory. The new advertising unit will be headed by Per Håkon Fasting (51), who has held the position of Commercial Director in VG since 2006, prior to which he had several commercial/digital roles in Schibsted and Egmont.
To a large extent, the subscription newspapers Stavanger Aftenblad, Bergens Tidende, Aftenposten, and Fædrelandsvennen are facing the same challenges. All of them hold leading positions, but the rapid changes taking place in the media market require that they leverage their combined strength. With respect to technology and development in particular, these media houses can benefit significantly from better coordinating their efforts. Overall responsibility for these four media houses will therefore be consolidated under one executive vice president. Sondre Gravir (37) will now have executive responsibility for all the subscription-based media in addition to his position as CEO of Aftenposten. Siv Juvik Tveitnes (40) is CEO of Bergens Tidende and Stavanger Aftenblad, while Harald Jacobsen (52) is CEO of Fædrelandsvennen. These positions previously reported to Didrik Munch, but from now on Tveitnes and Jacobsen will report to Sondre Gravir, Executive Vice President, Subscription-based Media Houses.
The editors-in-chief will continue to report to the board chairs of their respective media houses, and will be represented in the Group Management Team by Gard Steiro, Editor-in-Chief of Bergens Tidende, and Espen Egil Hansen, Editor-in-Chief of Aftenposten. CEO Didrik Munch is chair of the boards of Bergens Tidende and Aftenposten, as well as VG and Finn.no.
Jo Christian Oterhals, Executive Vice President of Live Images, will withdraw from the Group Management Team to focus on his job as CEO/Editor-in-Chief of VGTV. The level of commitment being invested in VGTV is considerable, and requires dedicated resources to build the organization and scale this commitment.
As a result of these changes, Schibsted Norge’s Group Management Team will comprise the following members, effective from 1 September:
Didrik Munch (CEO), Tina Stiegler (COO/CFO (currently on leave of absence)), Morten Jacobsen (CTO), Christian Printzell Halvorsen (CEO, FINN.no), Torry Pedersen (Publisher, VG), Sondre Gravir (Executive Vice President, Subscription-Based Media Houses/CEO Aftenposten), Espen Egil Hansen (Editor-in-Chief, Aftenposten), Gard Steiro, Editor-in-Chief, Bergens Tidende), Karl Vestli (Executive Vice President, Consumer Sales) and Per Håkon Fasting (Executive Vice President, Advertising).
Ann Mari Ågotnes (CFO, SNO) and Nina Moi Edvardsen (VP Organizational Development, SNO) are temporarily appointed to serve on Schibsted Norge’s Group Management Team during Tina Stiegler’s leave of absence.