Bert Habets & Henrik Pabst Talk Strategy Shifts, Joyn Ambitions

Bolstering the Joyn streaming service and refocusing some of its content investments are key strategies for ProSiebenSat.1 as the company navigates challenging economic headwinds, Bert Habets, CEO, and Henrik Pabst, chief content officer at Seven.One Entertainment Group, told reporters at a press round table at MIPCOM.

Habets has been at the helm of the European media group for less than a year, leading the outfit through choppy economic waters. “It’s far from an easy start,” Habets conceded. “The German-speaking region in Europe has undergone a very difficult time for the second year in a row. We’ve seen an unprecedented decline in the TV advertising markets. Two years of 9 to 10 percent decline in the traditional TV advertising market.”

Restructuring has been key, putting the entertainment unit, which sits alongside segments focused on commerce and ventures and online dating. “We have made a strong statement that we will go back to the original DNA of the group, which is running the entertainment business and further expanding and building our group in that direction going forward.”

The company will look to “crystallize value” out of the other divisions, mainly offloading parts of them and using those gains to enhance its streaming businesses, namely Joyn, of which it now controls 100 percent. The company is also initiating cost cuts, including via layoffs. “We need to design the organizational setup by bringing TV and streaming much closer together as an organization. And we need to prepare our organization for quick and efficient decision-making.”

Investing in content is a priority going forward, Habets said, in order to “stop the audience share erosion that we’ve seen over the last periods.”

Habets continued, “We have a clear ambition. We want to be the home of the best entertainment and information offering in the German-speaking region—Germany, Austria and part of Switzerland. That’s also where we want to play with our channels and our streaming video offering.”

Joyn has expanded to Austria and is set to arrive in Switzerland in 2024.

“In my view, we still have a lot to bring to the table as we reach multimillions of German-speaking people on a daily basis with a high frequency with the offerings that we have, and we should leverage our position on that, especially by scaling Joyn, to be complemented with a lot of other digital assets that we have in the group.”

Habets added, “Our unique selling point at the end of the day should be to monetize all the options of co-operation around intellectual property, formats, programs and on the other side, talent. There is a role for a local streaming platform where we bring the best of social and TV together. That will be our main focus area, where we need to put the viewer and the user first.” Ultimately, it’s about “maximizing time consumption across all platforms.”

Next year will see ProSiebenSat.1 accelerating its investments into its channels and Joyn, which Habets would like to see as an “all-in-one entertainment solution that builds upon multiple monetization efforts.”

Asked by World Screen to elaborate on this vision for Joyn, Habets said, “Right now, we are still perceived as a rather young platform for young demographics. One of the biggest challenges for us as an industry is that if you get this hyper-targeting, you can cater to and position and market Joyn as a much more household brand for kids, for youngers, for traditional TV demographics and the best agers as well.”

AVOD will remain crucial as Joyn builds to meaningful scale, with a target of doubling KPIs like viewing time and visitors in two years. “The monetization potential of Joyn is already there. We gain enormous traction; for every new eyeball that we bring to the platform, we can immediately monetize that very successfully.”

Key to expanding Joyn’s reach will be positioning it as a platform for all audiences, from kids up, reflecting the same broad audience reach as its portfolio of strong channel brands.

Pabst pointed out that “the advantage we have with our content is being able to play within a triangle of AVOD, SVOD and free-to-air linear exploitation.”

Maximum reach is the primary KPI. “We continuously need to work to excite viewers with our content because that is what matters. Are we good at that? Yes. Can we become better at that? Yes, and we have to work on that on a daily basis.”

While the company has been shifting towards more local content, licensed fare still plays a role on its grids. Pabst said overall content spend is targeted to hit €1 billion next year.

The Hollywood studios are becoming “more cooperative” when it comes to multiplatform deals, Pabst told World Screen. “We have a fantastic deal with a U.S. studio partner that is giving us within the term that we have the rights to play within the triangle: AVOD, SVOD, free TV. Are there still restrictions? Yes. But I think we are getting there because the studios understand that we can only help them to finance their content if they help us to maximize our reach. Our reach is platform-agnostic. It’s getting better.”