MTG buys Zoomin.TV stake

Scandinavian broadcast giant Modern Times Group (MTG) has acquired a controlling stake in European multi-channel network Zoomin.TV.

Zoomin.TV’s Jan Riemens

MTG has bought 51% of the company from its founders Jan Riemens and Bram Bloemberg in a deal that values the firm at €88m (US$95m).

It’s the third MCN that MTG has invested in in as many weeks following its buyout of esports outfit ESL and purchase of an increased stake in Scandi outfit Splay.

Zoomin.TV claims to attract more than 2 billion monthly video views and has 100 million worldwide subscribers to its YouTube channels, making it the largest MCN in Europe.

Its daily production output includes 400 premium short-form clips in 18 languages from video journalists around the world.

Riemens and Bloemberg, who founded the company in Amsterdam in 2002, will stay on to drive further growth and development.

Zoomin.TV’s Bram Bloemberg

MTG said the deal reflects its strategy to invest in “relevant, complementary and scalable digital brands, content and communities.” Zoomin.TV joins the Viaplay Nordic SVoD service and esports platform Viagame in MTG’s fast growing digital portfolio.

The move is part of a growing trend that has seen traditional broadcasters buying into the MCN space. Earlier this month Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1 took over US-based Collective Digital Studios, which it will merge with its own in-house MCN Studio71.