‘Television’s investment share has not changed, because only with television can you build your brand and the brand is essential for determining public consumption’, explained Silvio González, CEO of Atresmedia Corporación. He was speaking at the most recent session of Matins Esade, entitled ‘Television: The Media King’. ‘Television is reinforcing its status as the medium that enables affordable access to mass audiences, since 80% of audiovisual consumption continues to be television-based’, he summarised. 

González defended the medium against naysayers, noting that television is part of people’s everyday lives and ‘still sets the agenda’. ‘People come to rely on television because we deliver accurate, relevant news’, he explained. 

The group’s strategy 

The Atresmedia CEO also described the main pillars of the group’s strategy, which include HbbTV technology (launched last September), ‘which makes it possible to learn more about the client and do segmented advertising and, thus, to offer some of the same attributes as digital’, and VAR (Video Advertising Reach), ‘which makes it possible to adjust the data to give clients specific information about their campaigns’. ‘We are being more technological and providing more data’, González explained, adding that the corporation provides ‘special solutions, integrating brands in the content’. 

Content creation 

Content creation is another of the group’s strategies. According to González, ‘We are going to exploit our content creation capabilities. This output is not only for Spain: it has allowed us to open markets overseas.’ By way of example, he pointed to series that the corporation has produced, such as the hit show La casa de papel (known as Money Heist in English). 

‘We have a very clear editorial line, and there are certain types of programmes that we do not want to make, because they do not contribute to the society that we would like, even if there is a large audience for them. We are not interested in making content that we are ashamed of, and we are a leader in news programmes’, he said. 

Referring to part of the group’s business model, the Atresmedia executive talked about its advertising-free platform and the creation of Atresmedia Studios, ‘a company that will produce fictional series and films with a preliminary agreement with Telefónica that should be finalised this spring’. ‘We have productions for Amazon and Movistar, amongst other platforms, and have already established ourselves as a benchmark in the audiovisual industry’, he concluded. 

Matins Esade are a forum for reflecting on business organised by Esade Alumni and held at Esade. The sessions feature prominent business leaders, who share their vision of the industry and the company they run. 

In addition to the Atresmedia Coporación CEO, the latest Matins Esade session featured Xavier Sanchez, director of Esade Alumni, and Oriol Iglesias, head of Esade’s Marketing Department, who introduced the speaker.