Andreas Heyden, one of the industry’s leading digital experts, is to become CEO of S Nation Media. Together with S Nation Media’s founder and managing partner Christian Seifert as well as COO Marcel Wontorra, his task as of August 1, 2022, will be to make the new Axel Springer subsidiary the leading sports streaming platform outside the world of soccer.

Since June 2015, Andreas Heyden has been CEO of DFL Digital Sports, the digital subsidiary of Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL), Germany’s soccer league. He has also been Executive Vice President Digital Innovations at the DFL Group since 2019. The 47-year-old has a proven track record in establishing new fields of business, especially in segments such as video on demand (VoD), over-the-top content (OTT), and in augmented reality, AI, and 5G applications. Under his leadership, DFL has forged partnerships with leading companies in the technology and media space. In addition, Heyden was instrumental in anchoring the Virtual Bundesliga (VBL) as an additional competition in DFL’s statutes. Since November 2020, he has also been a member of the supervisory board of Sportec Solutions, a DFL subsidiary.

Overall, Andreas Heyden has amassed more than 25 years’ experience in the digital arena, including as managing director of sevenload, a start-up, and in various roles at Microsoft, RTL, and Maxdome.

“In recent years, Andreas Heyden has played a key role in driving the digital transformation of professional soccer in Germany. Like no other in the media industry, he stands for innovation and digitalization, and a clear focus on the consumer,” says Christian Seifert. “We are really delighted to have secured the services of Andreas Heyden for S Nation Media. He will lend further strong impetus to the growth of our streaming platform.”

Jan Bayer, the Axel Springer Executive Board member responsible for S Nation Media, says: “Christian Seifert and his management team have already succeeded in convincing three attractive sports leagues – basketball, table tennis, and volleyball – of the exceptional potential that a partnership with S Nation Media promises. Now, with Andreas Heyden as CEO contributing his outstanding digital expertise, the management team is continuing to hone its profile. We at Axel Springer are doing everything we can to support our colleagues at S Nation Media.”

As Andreas Heyden stated: “I very much look forward to my new task of creating a digital home for the sports that place their trust in us as well as for their fans.”


About S Nation Media
The objective of the joint venture founded by Axel Springer and Christian Seifert – who was for many years CEO of DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga – is to create a new media home for the German fans of the leagues and sports beyond soccer. To this end, the company will for the first time bundle the audiovisual rights for attractive leagues and sporting events on one media platform. With high-quality production standards and intensive marketing support, the new streaming platform aims to enhance awareness and appreciation of underrepresented sports. Within just a few months, the company has signed media rights agreements with Germany’s table tennis, volleyball, and basketball leagues (Tischtennis Bundesliga TTBL, Volleyball Bundesliga VBL, and easyCredit Basketball Bundesliga). The streaming platform will go live in Q3 2023.


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