Exclusive Interview: Grupo Globo’s Roberto Irineu Marinho

PREMIUM: Roberto Irineu Marinho, the chairman and CEO of Grupo Globo, talks to World Screen about the businesses and values he inherited from his father, and the company’s core principles he remains faithful to as he continually searches for growth opportunities.

WS: Your father, Roberto Marinho, founded the company 50 years ago. What were those early years like? What challenges did he have to overcome?
MARINHO: To answer your question, I prefer to quote what my father said in an interview: “Contrary to what many people constantly say, Globo TV was not born ready, done and successful. If so, it would not be exciting at all. There were many risks and an apprehensive atmosphere throughout the first days, months and years. I joined such endeavor alone, engaging the best of my efforts and practically all the goods that I had at that time. Despite the pessimism of almost everyone around me, even the closest partners, I always believed in what I was doing. I was absolutely convinced that hard work, relentless tenacity and huge patience would lead us to success. Yet, I never deceived myself. I have always been aware that, when it comes to entertainment and journalism, it is not possible to win audience loyalty and market confidence easily and promptly. Those who thought so had a short life. I also believe that, once you are successful, once you reach success, you cannot afford to become complacent. Complacency has always been the perfect match for failure. I am pleased to be eternally unsatisfied.”

It was a difficult beginning, and in 1969—I was 21 years old at that time—I authorized a loan in which my father mortgaged 100 percent of his assets to be able to keep investing in television. Such endorsement was to guarantee that his sons would not contest the validity of the operation, since my father was more than 60 years old. A year and a half after that, with a lot of hard work, Globo became the top-rated network and was able to pay off the loan.

WS: What lessons did you learn from your father?
MARINHO: Father taught us three lessons: The first lesson is to always believe in Brazil. The second lesson is to work with the best and most talented professionals, regardless of friendship, family bonds or ideologies. The third lesson is to keep the passion for communication, which “motivates us to build a relationship with our audience, to search for innovation and to keep the quality of the final product,” as my father would say.

WS: Your father was an active leader at Globo until a very advanced age. How was the transition process when he decided to retire? How did you manage to separate the responsibilities internally?
MARINHO: The succession moment is really important in a family business because that is when most of the conflicts arise. We decided to make it a gradual and planned process. To that end, we made four decisions. The first one was to discuss our family values, as well as each other’s dreams so that we could draft the agreements. The second and most difficult decision was that nobody would take our father’s place as the General Director President. The three brothers would take his place as a team. This was a tough decision, for it implied leaving any trace of individualism behind, any personal ambition and vanity, in order to assure success. The third decision was to professionalize the management of our companies with the three of us leaving the executive direction of some of them and, together, taking over the Group command. We created three Coordination Boards (Companies, Editorial and Social Responsibility) and each one of us started to manage an area. However, the corporate decisions would be taken as a group, reaching a consensus on each matter. With this model in progress, we began to discuss the new governance of the group, which, from 2003, was implemented and has reached the model we have today.

WS: What lessons were learned from Globo’s coverage of the FIFA World Cup that can be used in covering the Rio 2016 Olympic Games? 
MARINHO: Brazilian people love sports and world events always bring an additional involvement. The World Cup allowed us to explore even more thorough coverage because it took place in our home territory. We studied new technological resources that helped us [provide more detailed] coverage. We brought the best sports commentators in the country to help explain the event. During the broadcast, we used a [visual] language that took us closer to the audience. The strategy worked. There were six channels (two free-to-air and 4 pay TV) broadcasting the World Cup games. Globo TV’s average audience share for all games was 79 percent. For the Olympic Games, we will seek technological innovations. We have already hired the “Golden Team,” composed of Brazilian athletes who had been Olympic medalists, and we intend to go deep into sport information. We aim to highlight and explain each sport to those viewers who do not know about them.      

WS: The Brazilian economy has suffered a slowdown over the last couple of years. What impact has that had on the advertising market in general and on your own business?
MARINHO: Globo has managed to maintain its share of the Brazilian advertising market over the last years because of its attractive and relevant broadcast program offering. Today we have the 30 top-rated programs on Brazilian television and the advertising market recognizes our effort. The market comes to us for brand releases, promotion and development. We understand that if the country grows, and so does the market, it will be good for everyone.

For Grupo Globo, which has a diversified presence in different segments, the past few years were really positive, particularly due to the growth of television-advertising budgets and the rise in the number of pay-television subscriptions.

WS: Globo is financially healthy, but there are new challenges to face, such as the gradual decline in audience due to on-demand viewing online, especially among young people. How is the company preparing for these technological challenges?
MARINHO: Quality and innovation are our essential principles. We work so that our audience perceives our products as the best, the most creative and innovative ones. These are the pillars that allow us to maintain high audience ratings in all media. 

In Brazil, free TV garners by far the highest viewing, and Globo TV has a clear leadership in this business. The rate of pay-television subscribers in Brazil has been growing strongly in recent years. Grupo Globo, via Globosat and its joint ventures with international players, is positioned in this segment in a very prominent way due to an offering of more than 30 channels targeting the most diverse audiences.

All Grupo Globo companies have digital operations that are responsible for the extension of their brands, content, interactivity, and connection with the audience. As an example we can mention the content that Globo TV offers online, via subscription, and on on-demand platforms. The content of the pay-television channels is also offered to subscribers on other platforms. Our newspapers and magazines can be read on computers, tablets and cell phones. We also offer digital-specific content, such as Globo TV web series and the G1 news portal. Several TV shows are based on interactivity with the viewer, which is done via applications, websites and other forms of interactivity. We also offer second-screen applications, which enhance both the content and customers’ experience. Our newsrooms have adopted new schedules and they are currently oriented to "digital first." The challenges that we are facing using different initiatives are: capturing the young audience—the 14- to 25-years-olds—and the intensified use of mobility and short formats. Social media tends to be television’s partner in capturing consumers’ combined attention.

WS: Your free-to-air channel still attracts huge audience shares, something broadcasters in other countries dream about. However, it seems inevitable that a segment of this giant audience is migrating to pay television, as seen by the recent increase in pay-TV subscriptions. What can Globo TV, as a free-to-air broadcaster, do to stop this trend?
MARINHO: Free-to-air television is a great national asset. But content is what distinguishes us and ensures the public’s loyalty. Globo TV is top-rated across all television platforms because it offers the best programs; it is constantly updating, renewing, introducing new formats and always seeks the best in journalism, sports and entertainment. We have closely followed the progress of pay television and the growth of new media. For this reason, we want to offer our content in various ways for viewers to see their favorite programs as they wish.

WS: Globo has huge influence in Brazil and is also an exporter of television programs all over the world. But your international sales, with revenues of around $100 million, are still a small portion of your revenues. Are you thinking of increasing your influence across national borders? 
MARINHO: Globo is a Brazilian company, strongly committed to our “Brazilianness.” Our actions, either in content production or in business affairs, are guided by this commitment. We often have the opportunity to take our productions to other countries, and our telenovelas and series have achieved substantial success abroad. Our telenovela Brazil Avenue was sold to 130 countries. It was broadcast in Argentina with the same success that it achieved here in Brazil. The last episode was broadcast in the Luna Park stadium, which was crowded with people watching it.    

We currently distribute some channels globally via pay-TV operators, such as the Globo TV International Channel and the sport channel PFC Internacional. Both are in Portuguese and target Brazilians living abroad and Portuguese-speaking countries like Angola and Portugal. We also engage in co-productions, aimed at the Portuguese- and Spanish-language markets, through the combination of Globo’s scripts, direction and expertise with local partners’ resources. Yet it does not mean we do not intend to improve our business positioning and assess new business opportunities for the group.       

WS: Globo TV has always included social commentary in its telenovelas, addressing issues such as HIV infection, abortion and racial prejudice. How successful have these commentaries been in terms of trying to inform the public through entertainment?
MARINHO: This has been one of Globo’s main traits since its origin: to promote actions that contribute to the development of society. Over its 50-year history, Globo has launched some wide-reaching campaigns. Informing society is something we have always done, and Globo TV uses all possible spaces to do it in areas such as public health, citizenship, education and more. These initiatives are known as “Social Merchandising.” We have touched upon numerous themes, including racism, alcohol abuse, AIDS, abortion, and domestic violence against women and children. The results have been wonderful and sometimes so significant that they have been reflected in official statistics. For instance, bone-marrow donations increased when we discussed leukemia in Family Ties. Globo won the world’s most important social responsibility award, the BITC Awards for Excellence 2001, in the Global Leadership Award category. It is an initiative we are very proud of, one that greatly contributes to the country’s development.

WS: Globo is celebrating its 50th anniversary. What makes you most proud of the company? Where do you see it ten years from now?
MARINHO: Our biggest pride is in the team of professionals who work for our company and their endless drive for achieving the greatest quality and innovation. It is rare to find a team anywhere in the world that is both so diverse and complete as the one we have at Globo.

I am not really interested to know where Globo will be five years from now. I am interested in projecting 20 years from now. Why 20 years? Because if we are going to discuss short-term, five or ten years from now, we will have to discuss technology. We will have to foresee which handheld device will be used to read magazines and newspapers, or what your TV set at home will be like, if it is going to be big, if it is high-quality, 3D, 4K or 8K. We will be stuck discussing formats, devices, distribution platforms; and we will lose sight of the essential, which is content quality and client relationships.

It is long-term thinking, which is always strategic, that allows us to arrive safely into the future. We must have a clear vision of what we want to become further down the road. The answer is none other than our main trait, which is the quality of our content and our relationship with clients. We always need to make quality content that both informs and entertains; that surprises the public and is innovative. In short, that is uniquely creative. Consumer behavior is always an unknown variable. That is what we must try and anticipate in order to foresee major trends.