Moving to a Multichannel and Multiplatform Company in the Emerging and Digital Media Ecosystem: The Case of Mediaset Group

Abstract

In a moment of technological development, Mediaset Group, as most media incumbents, has to experiment with the revenue model, the industry value chain, and the enterprise model, including the use of partnerships and acquisitions, both in Italy and Spain. Mediaset needs to sense and respond rapidly to stay in synchrony with consumer behavior shifts. In the last decade, the company ventured in Internet, digital television (2004), pay-per-view (2005, starting from a smart card strategy), and mobile TV (2006); and got the current networked form of a fully international, integrated company. As a result, advertising is no longer the only revenue stream: Nowadays, Mediaset receives money from premium content access and from the renting of spectrum, widening the value created by new businesses (portfolio strategy). Relevant investments have been made on the content side: First, the acquisition of Endemol, a top editorial content company, enables Mediaset to act as leading producer in the television market. The success of Mediaset in the 2000s is also due to a networking logic and the ability to interlock with networks of finance, production, advertising, technology, and (more than others) politics.