TV 2: Five strategic levers that integrate finance into TV 2’s strategy

TV 2 is a deeply integrated part of everyday life for most Danes. Perhaps you check the news on the app every day; maybe you are among those who still watch one of the seven flow channels; or perhaps you are one of the more than 1.2 million Danes who subscribe to TV 2 Play.

This is why you are also at the centre of the television station’s new 2030 strategy. However, the initiatives in the strategy, which are intended to give TV 2’s users an even more personalised and better experience, also create new areas of focus for the organisation. This includes finance, where Jakob Fink has been CFO since September 2024.

This was therefore a welcome opportunity for him to take a closer look at how the department can ensure that its work supports and creates value for the business in direct alignment with the strategy.

This has led to five specific areas of focus, where the ambition has been raised and where Jakob Fink and his team have worked in a targeted manner with both the positioning and the processes within finance.

With the initiatives in the new strategy in mind, it is crucial for me and for us in finance to be a good and competent sparring partner, so that we can support the business in making well-considered and financially sound decisions, explains the CFO.

In the following, Jakob Fink discusses the five areas with Basico Managing Partner Jacob Poulsen.

“We have made an organisational change where we have moved Business Finance into a direct reporting line to me, which is a clear signal that the organisation’s finance function is a business-oriented one.

The way we now define the role of the finance business partners is that they are the de facto CFOs for their respective business areas. They must provide support and advice, but they must also challenge and ensure that what is happening in the business is financially responsible.”

“So, in practice, they deliver a finance-service model to the business?” asks Jacob Poulsen.

“Yes, exactly,” Jakob Fink replies. “They are the right hand and close sparring partner for the department directors in their respective areas, but of course also, above all, our extended arm into the business.”

Jacob Poulsen: “And how is that going?”

“We are making good progress. It is now completely natural for them to attend management meetings in the departments and cross-functional meetings across TV 2. That way, they gain a much closer understanding of what is happening in the business,” says Jakob Fink and continues:

“The discussions about how the role should be handled have been very useful. They have created a more consistent approach across our business partners. Previously, there was more room for the individual to shape the role – tailored to the department director they worked with. That can still be the case, but we have now defined more clearly what it means to be a good finance business partner. We have come a long way, but we will continue developing the partner roles in the coming months.”

IT is no longer just a support area – it is a central and growing part of the cost base in any modern media business. And with TV 2’s ambitious technology strategy came significant investments that required close financial follow-up. For Jakob Fink, the answer was clear: Finance had to work much more closely with IT.

“We were already well on our way towards the 2030 strategy in the IT area. As early as February 2024, we had launched a new and very ambitious technology strategy that marked the direction for the technologies in TV 2. This meant considerable additional resources and underscored the need for finance to move closer to the area – to ensure responsible financial management and that the funds were used appropriately,” says Jakob Fink.

“And it is a very different way of working,” adds Jacob Poulsen. “IT is a significant part of the cost base in any business. Understanding cost drivers, projects, benefit realisation and business cases requires you to be close to the area.”

“Exactly. And that is not always easy,” Jakob Fink replies. “The consumption-based cost model for IT makes it more complex to manage, because it is not always immediately clear where the costs are incurred. It is a shared pool of income that we have historically worked with. But we have now found an operating model in which close collaboration with the technology part of the business can actually help create the required savings. We are already well on our way. And throughout the process, we have identified very specific cost savings.”

The new strategy generates several new business cases – and at TV 2, significant amounts are at stake. The 2030 strategy requires substantial investments in personalisation and partnerships, which means that finance must be closely involved in the decision-making processes from the very beginning.

“The strategy will generate many new business cases – not least regarding partnerships and the creation of a personalised experience for viewers. Large investments will be made, so it is crucial that we think things through carefully,” says Jakob Fink.

“The value-creating measure is to involve Business Finance at the table much earlier than before?” asks Jacob Poulsen.

“Yes, exactly. Above all, it is about ensuring that Business Finance is involved almost from day one,” Jakob Fink replies. “We have established a business development team that will oversee all larger business cases, and it is completely unprecedented that finance is part of that team.”

“We have learned a specific lesson from this,” he continues. “There have previously been examples of Business Finance being involved too late. This resulted in a more cumbersome process, where they would only become involved at a late stage to assess the assumptions underlying a given business case. The lesson has also been to involve them at an earlier stage.”

Part of the 2030 strategy involves TV 2 strengthening the business by establishing several partnerships. Users of TV 2 Play can, for example, access content from SkyShowtime and BritBox, and in May TV 2 launched an ambitious new partnership with Disney+ and Apple TV.

“And that is precisely why it is important to have finance close to the process,” says Jacob Poulsen. “Every partner comes with their own commercial terms and revenue model. It requires both a finance function that can manage the different models reliably and accurately, and an analyst who can explain whether the partnerships actually create value.”

“Exactly. And we need finance to be involved from the start,” Jakob Fink replies. “We need to ensure that we are attentive to what is happening, so that we can assess it in our analysis model and gain the commercial insight we need to know whether we are on the right track.”

Traditional budget management has a well-known side effect: departments spend money when they have funds available in their budgets – not necessarily when they need to. This is commonly expressed as a capex mindset, where the decision is made in the financial year. Jakob Fink has changed this approach.

“Departments’ disposition of investment funds has historically been influenced by the fear of losing the budget next year. We have changed that. Now, it is perfectly acceptable to defer an investment from January until December – and it is equally acceptable to spend it as part of the budget process,” says Jakob Fink and continues:

“If the investment case is sound, the funds are allocated. Conversely, funds are not approved if the case is not good – regardless of whether it is included in the budget.”

“And you have not only changed the mindset – you have also changed the process,” says Jacob Poulsen.

“Yes. Previously, we had an investment committee with more than 20 people from many different areas, where technology and facility investments were handled together. It was unnecessarily cumbersome and time-consuming,” says Jakob Fink. “We now have divided it into two committees with a fixed membership and put the responsibility for Business Finance, which quality-assures all investment requests, in the hands of the committee. The cases are prepared in advance, so everyone can make decisions within an hour. This has brought greater quality and ownership into the process – and has put an end to the old mindset around capital allocation.”

Against the backdrop of TV 2’s new strategy and the developments within finance, it was an obvious opportunity for Jakob Fink and the management team in Finance to sit at the table and gain a full overview of the finance function. The CFO Gameboard analysis tool was used for this purpose. It is designed to help elevate the perspective and view the finance function as a whole.

“The session with the CFO Gameboard created a really valuable dialogue about where we, as a finance function, should invest our resources and how we prioritise between the areas that are all important. It also created a good basis for developing a comprehensive plan for the development of the finance function – and for working on it,” says Jakob Fink.

One of the key strengths of the CFO Gameboard is precisely that it not only reveals areas requiring attention, but also creates a common language and shared understanding of how resources can best be allocated so that the finance function delivers as much value as possible for the business. For TV 2, this is exactly what the CFO Gameboard helped achieve.

“I truly believe that it was valuable to sit together with all the managers in finance and create a shared overview of where there are areas requiring attention or issues in the finance function,” says Jakob Fink.

“And the CFO Gameboard was a genuinely useful tool.”