ROME: Italian broadcaster Mediaset expects an EBIT improvement on the Italian TV activities of €468 million by 2020. According to the development guidelines and business/financial goals presented to financial analysts in London, market share on the total advertising market in Italy should go up from the current 37.4 per cent to more than 39 per cent in 2020. In 2016, total advertising revenues increased by a further 4 per cent compared with 2015. Future growth will be built on the development of local and international content, innovative international partnerships like the recent agreement with Studio 71, new “online first” content and the launch of a new generation OTT Advertising VoD platform by the end of 2017, as well as the development, also digital, of Mediaset’s advertising offer.
In terms of content strategy, Mediaset plans to strenghten its FTA schedule through focus on own productions to keep creating recurring “unmissable” appointments for the audience in the Italian market. In addition, it will decrease spending on low-return content and extract maximum value from library content. On the efficiency side, activities are ongoing at Mediaset España on the international co-production of content, activities that can be extended to other European broadcasters. There will also be a refocusing of the pay-TV area on two levels. Making Mediaset’s pay channels available also to other operators and, at the same time, opening up the Premium DTT pay-TV platform to all content producers interested in a paid for offer.
