Making TV in Ghana

Viasat 1, which went on air in Ghana five years ago, is a Swedish owned free-to-air advertising funded TV station which has managed to position itself as the second biggest TV station in the country. It broadcasts US produced movies and series, sports and locally produced news and talk shows.

Two years into its operations Charlotte Gustavsson took up the position as CEO for the TV station. At a recent visit to Ghana the Embassy took the opportunity to meet with Charlotte, just weeks before her end of tour, to learn more about questions pose to them by the media sector and her experiences of working in Ghana.

Who are you and what brought you to Ghana? I am a 34 years old Wermlandian who started off my career in corporate finance but ended up working for Modern Times Group (MTG), an exciting media company with an aggressive expansion plan.

At MTG I started off as Logistics Manager for pay-tv Nordics. In 2010 I felt it was time for new challenges, I thus accepted MTG's offer to become CEO for Viasat 1 in Ghana.

Lessons learned, achievements and challenges? One of the main challenges has been pushing for research data.

Not every TV station or client are using it for the moment. Being the second biggest player in the market, in terms of viewership, we of course want the clients to look at the data and buy spots accordingly, but there is still a strong relationship/perception based market.

Another challenge has been fighting piracy. Some of our competitors download and play out the latest movies. This is of course illegal but some TV channels ignore or lack knowledge about copyright rules.

Finally breaking even, in the second quarter of this year, was a major breakthrough and achievement. As were being branded "top of mind TV brand" in 2013, reaching a commercial share of viewing of 25%, launching our news and breakfast show and negotiating Premier League 2013/2014.

The decision to build a studio and produce our own shows was a game changer. Since then other TV stations have stepped up their game as well, resulting in improved production quality throughout the Ghanaian TV industry.

Managing in Ghana I have really enjoyed my years in Ghana. I have grown a lot as a person and learned to be more patient and firm as a leader. Increased integrity has been one of my professional goals and watchwords.

Ghana's potential - why invest in Ghana? MTG entered the Ghanaian market because of its stable political environment and years of double digit growth. The development during the last three years has been rapid, many new big brands has entered, and are entering, the market - which is promising for the country as a whole.