Quickplay appoints Yahoo and Endemol Shine alum Wim Ponnet to head new EMEA unit

Cloud-based OTT technology outfit, Quickplay, has named former Yahoo and Endemol Shine Group exec Wim Ponnet as president of EMEA to head its new hub in Europe. 

Wim Ponnet (Source: Quickplay)

Ponnet was most recently at the investment firm FanTechCapital where he served as founding partner and CEO for two years. Prior to FanTechCapital, he was chief strategy and commercial officer at TV production and distribution outfit Endemol Shine from 2015 to 2021. During his tenure he was responsible for P&L management of the company’s sales organisation including licensing, digital sales and monetisation, before stepping down following the company’s acquisition by media group Banijay.

At Yahoo he joined in 2011 as senior director, strategy and operations of EMEA and chief of staff through to 2015. The exec also sits on multiple investor and advisory boards for sports, academic and business organisations.

Quickplay said the new office aims to address heightened industry demand for cloud-native, open architecture OTT solutions. The company plans to leverage market-specific expertise and its capabilities to tailor fast, flexible, and scalable solutions that can drive digital transformation for pay-TV, telco and MVPD customers throughout the EMEA region.

“Our success with sports, media and entertainment providers across North America and APAC has spurred enormous interest in our ability to drive results for the streaming industry,” said Paul Pastor, chief business officer and co-founder of Quickplay. “Wim Ponnet’s skillset and track record in EMEA will spearhead a dedicated presence that will help us immediately to address a growing pipeline of inquiries from providers – all of whom are seeking the superior performance and rapid integration of AI technologies that only cloud-native, open architecture solutions can provide.”

“Every distributor and sports league I’ve worked with has articulated the need for platforms that go beyond delivery of content and instead can truly drive viewer engagement,” said Ponnet. “Quickplay’s cloud native, open architected platform is opening the door to rich fan and consumer experiences that can meet the the OTT and sports industries’ strategic objectives today, and can harness the business and market potential of Generative AI tomorrow.”