Impresa: “We are working closely with the MFE on a pan-European strategy”

“We are the biggest player in Portugal, but we need capital to grow and we need to look to Europe. MediaForEurope [MFE] is the only player in the industry that is approaching this in the right way”, said Francisco Pedro Balsemão, head of the Impresa group, when asked why the Italian group had become the second-largest shareholder just over a month ago. During a conversation at the StreamTV Europe event, the CEO of the company that owns SIC and Expresso acknowledged that the firm is “aligned with MFE on a pan-European strategy”. Last year, MFE had set itself the goal of becoming the leading TV and media operator in Europe.

Regarding the benefits of this partnership for the Impresa Group, Francisco Pedro Balsemão explains that it will enable the group to “achieve synergies in revenue, advertising, technology (AdTech) and the acquisition and sale of content”. However, he clarifies that the relationship “is still at an early stage”.

On the sidelines of the event, speaking to ECO, the manager reiterated this point. So far, “there has already been a board meeting with all the new non-executive directors”, but this was solely for the purpose of “allowing the new shareholders to get to know the company, the business and the culture a little better”, and he declined to speculate on when the first practical effects of this partnership would be seen.

According to Francisco Pedro Balsemão, the recent changes to Impresa’s organisation — such as the consolidation of the Human Resources and Transformation departments under Mónica Serrano and the appointment of Teresa Gonçalves as CFO — were led by Impreger, the holding company through which the Balsemão family owns the group, and are a “reflection” of the Strategic Plan for the 2025–2028 period.

“The strategy must come first, and then governance must be adapted to the strategy. We hadn’t done this before because we were in the process of negotiating with MFE, which was the start of an opportunity. Once that process was concluded, we adapted our governance to the strategy”, he explains.

The CEO of the Portuguese group is keen to emphasise that the shareholders’ agreement leaves decision-making power with Impreger. “It is very important to make it clear that effective control of the company lies with Impreger. Everything that is done is, of course, discussed at this stage, but it is Impreger that takes the final decisions”, he points out. The shareholders’ agreement recognises the right to appoint the majority of the board members and to determine how MFE votes on certain matters.

“Everything we have done in terms of strategic changes, which in turn has been reflected in the company’s governance, has been led by us. They do not know the business, they do not know the people, and so it was we who carried out this process”, he emphasises.

Based on the plan adopted in 2025, Impresa’s chief executive points out that projects are already being developed with the Italians in the advertising sector to make the core business profitable. In the digital sphere, the group wants to “share experiences and also draw on MFE’s best practices”, whilst no synergies are yet planned in the area of operational partnerships.

“The fourth [pillar] involves cost optimisation and strengthening our financing capacity. On the one hand, with the arrival of MFE, we have already achieved this. As for cost optimisation, this is a project that forms part of the 25/28 strategy, which has yielded good results”, he notes.

“We have shared our budget plans for this year with the new shareholders and we will, with confidence, seek to achieve our objectives, but we have no specific target regarding MFE’s entry for this year”, concludes Francisco Pedro Balsemão.

The ‘new lease of life’ for soap operas on streaming

In an advertising market where “half comes from linear TV”, but “digital is growing faster than free-to-air and cable TV”, Impresa sees the streaming giants as partners as well as competitors.

Francisco Pedro Balsemão argues that the group has “more in common with platforms offering long-form, high-quality, professionally produced content [such as Netflix and Disney+] than with social media and aggregators”, having taken advantage of the conditions these platforms have established in CTV (Connected TV) and ad-supported streaming.

“They opened up the CTV market in Portugal, which we – through our Opto streaming service – as well as other brands such as Samsung and Rakuten, which we represent in Portugal, have been capitalising on”, he points out.

The manager also highlights soap operas, with partnerships already in place with Disney+ and Amazon, a format that was not valued by platforms a few years ago. “It’s very ‘sticky’ content, useful for retention on these platforms and for reducing churn.” He notes, incidentally, that this approach is being followed by other players, such as France’s TF1, which broadcasts a soap opera simultaneously with Netflix.

The success of Impresa’s FAST (Free Ad-supported Streaming TV) channels was another topic of discussion. The SIC Novelas channel has taken the opposite route. “The old genres are enjoying a different and better life elsewhere”, he sums up.

Looking to the future of the sector, Balsemão rejects the label of “traditional media”: “Traditional media are dead or dying. If you don’t innovate, you’re dying. So, you can’t be traditional because otherwise you’ll die.” He prefers instead the expression “medium-sized and traditionally trusted company”.