The persuader

In 2006, they were ridiculed. Video on demand was the topic, live streaming was seen as downright reactionary. It is now clear that Zattoo founder Beat Knecht's vision that linear television must also take place on the Internet is very real. "As a pioneer and market leader, we are a force to be reckoned with in this rapidly growing segment," says Nick Brambring confidently. With around ten million registered users, the former Chief Operation Officer took over from Beat Knecht at the head of the company at the beginning of February 2012. Before Zattoo, Brambring worked for the Boston Consulting Group. In the meantime, he completed his MBA at Insead in Singapore and Fontainebleau, one of the world's most renowned business schools. "Thanks to economics and the Boston Consulting Group, I had a good basic knowledge of business. I wanted to deepen this in the areas of media management, but also negotiation and finance. But the main thing was the personal experience, a year off from my job abroad with great fellow students and lots of fun. And I had it!"

The contact with Zattoo came at just the right moment during this creative phase in Singapore via Francesco Vass, now Managing Director of the online marketplace Tutti in Switzerland. Vass was already at Zattoo in 2006 and was looking for a Content Acquisition Manager for Internet television via Insead's online job market. This is how Brambring was lured to Zurich in January 2007.

"I've always been passionate about film and television. As a teenager, I produced short films and music films," he says, explaining his interest in the world of media. Even while working for the Boston Consulting Group, he was always on the lookout for exciting jobs in the media industry. "In the end, Zattoo offered me a strong package: exciting colleagues, a fascinating business idea and a job in which I could take responsibility from the outset. And Zurich is a great city."

In his first year at Zattoo, Brambring mainly negotiated rights with TV broadcasters and collecting societies as Content Acquisition Manager. But for a start-up, it doesn't stop at the "actual" tasks. "When we opened a new country with new channels, I also took care of satellite decoder cards and general terms and conditions when in doubt."

Brambring initially sees the expansion into new markets as his most important success in building up Zattoo. "That took a lot of convincing, especially with TV broadcasters. We were always the 'little one' who could only offer the promise that Zattoo had a great product and would become something." Brambring was also able to do important persuasive work in building up the advertising business. These successes led to the turnaround in 2008/2009. "We had a high burn rate and almost no revenue. Despite difficult conditions - economic crisis, emerging competition, major technological changes - we were ultimately able to turn this around through fundamental changes, at that time under the leadership of Beat Knecht." As COO, Nick Brambring later managed to lead Zattoo to "adulthood" in 2010/2011. "We worked internally on efficiency and reliability and created and filled new positions in a targeted manner. We now know much better than before what it takes to run a successful Internet TV business." As a result, a large number of partnerships were concluded with major customers and partners.

"Zattoo has become an established player in Switzerland and parts of Europe." Since 2008, Nick Brambring has been entrusted with various management roles by Beat Knecht. This was a very good preparation for the subsequent transfer of operational management as COO in the second half of 2010. Since then, Knecht has increasingly focused on investment issues and strategic projects. The division of responsibilities has worked well and will now be continued consistently with Knecht as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

And Zattoo today?

In the beautiful business book "Rework" by Jason Fried, it is exaggeratedly written that "planning is guessing". Brambring agrees with this assessment in part: "So much has happened at Zattoo and in the company's environment that we were unable to plan the overall development like a drawing board. It was important to always react quickly and flexibly to new circumstances. We often did this very well. It was just as important to learn from mistakes - and we clearly made mistakes - and do better next time. " Zattoo has "a great team" and the mature start-up wants to continue to invest heavily in good people and the development of the product. "We have the opportunity to do so thanks to steadily increasing sales both in the advertising market and in the user fees for our premium offer. Everyone is talking about Internet TV and we continue to lead the way in terms of user numbers and innovations." Of course, it is important not to lose sight of the mission. "We want to be the No. 1 in Internet TV worldwide." And with all these strategies, there are also areas that can be planned, Brambring adds: "In the Swiss advertising market, for example, we have had stable customer relationships for years and work with easily calculable budgets."

Around 25 employees currently work at Zattoo. We are still looking for additional software developers and currently also a Campaign Manager in the advertising team. "We can clearly see the next steps we want to take with our product. But the bottleneck is often resources. It's not easy to find software developers who meet our high standards."

It is also time to expand again. "Because this was my first task for Zattoo, the topic is particularly close to my heart. However, expansion always costs money at first. That's why we're currently looking for an investor that suits us." Despite all these visions, the basic idea for the product and business model, which Beat Knecht already had in 2005, remains the same. "We offer live TV free of charge and earn money with advertising. We have specifically supplemented the model, for example with recording and paid premium packages. We can therefore concentrate fully on expanding our business along the existing model, namely through regional expansion, applications for new end devices including smart TVs and adding content to TV. The latter involves social features and recommendations, for example: What are your friends watching?"

Nick Brambring is aware that there are always new competitors who are doing a very good job in a particular area. Wilmaa, for example, has a successful browser version and Teleboy has successful mobile apps. "This spurs us on to remain No. 1 in each individual area or, if we lose our position in one area, to become No. 1."

Blick TV shows that it is becoming increasingly difficult for new players to enter the market, "which, despite massive investments and enormous advertising - often hidden in editorial contributions - is not a success as far as I know". Outside of Switzerland, Brambring sees "no legal competition" due to the complex legal situation.

For the new CEO of Zattoo, it is "great to see" how Beat Knecht's idea has developed into an entire, very dynamic market. "Not only Internet television as such, but also many Zattoo details such as channel choosers or channel switch ads are now industry standard. Although we don't receive any license fees for this, we are delighted with the confirmation."

The team is also a particular source of pride. "With 25 people, we offer millions of users a great service, manage hundreds of advertising campaigns and work closely with over 100 contractual partners. We do it all with a lot of joy. Especially in difficult times, we have shown that we stand together as a team. That makes us strong for future tasks." Where there is success, there are also dangers. "Our offering is a great addition to the traditional TV offering and the corresponding business model. The participants in this traditional eco-system don't always like this and put up a fight. In some cases, this is absolutely legitimate, for example when Swisscom copies our web TV model. However, in some cases, particularly in Germany, we have noticed that market players are deliberately positioning themselves against Zattoo in order to delay the need for adaptation that comes with the Internet for a few more years. " Brambring finds it particularly annoying "that illegal platforms that don't care about rights are attracting users at the same time". In Switzerland, the latter does not play a role thanks to the complete TV offering on Zattoo and competing platforms.

The search for fields of activity that are not immediately obvious is nothing new for Nick Brambring. After his first degree at the University of Cologne, he prepared colleagues for their law exams as a tutor and worked as a trainee lawyer at the court and public prosecutor's office. He then joined BCG, deliberately as a springboard for a business career in the media industry. "Brambring sees this leap into the world of film and television as "generally successful". Even today, the plan to "one day produce a movie myself" is still not completely out of the question. Like everything else, he approached his goal of working in the world of media at Boston Consulting with a well thought-out strategy. "Six months before I started, I got the contact details of the partners who did media projects. Unfortunately, there were hardly any projects in this area at the time. I then worked in very different industries, from insurance to telco. The weak media connection bothered me. In retrospect, I'm still happy and grateful for my time at BCG. It prepared me well for my job at Zattoo. "

What has remained from this time is the connection to the USA. The Zattoo developer team still works in Ann Arbor, Michigan. However, due to the difficult legal situation in the USA and the resulting weak channel line-up, Zattoo is practically unknown to users there. "But I am of course following developments in the USA. On the one hand, to wait for the right time to enter the market. On the other hand, to find inspiration in technical developments. In my private life, I'm a fan of the USA anyway and always combine my trips to Ann Arbor with at least one weekend in New York." But Brambring doesn't want to live on the other side of the Atlantic entirely. He likes life in Zurich. "The Swiss media landscape is small. You don't just see each other twice in a lifetime, you probably see each other 20 times. If you're a competitor today, you could be a business partner or work colleague tomorrow.

This leads to a very decent and thoughtful approach. Promises are not made lightly, but are then highly binding. And you give the other person room to breathe and sometimes hold back. I really appreciate that." In such a climate, Nick Brambring can quote the former CEO of General Electric in addition to his "planning is guessing" from the book "Rework". Jack Welch said "Enjoy your job and never work again". The CEO of Zattoo is in the fortunate position that this applies to him. "I generally enjoy life." Andreas Panzeri