Joyn has launched a broad-based 360-degree campaign in German-speaking Switzerland. The claim "Everything on Joyn!" promotes the free streaming service. The focus is on visual motifs and plays on words that succinctly summarize the broad range of content.

In addition to traditional on-air spots and (D)OOH placements, in-stream ads, social media, cinema, print and radio will also be used. The campaign is designed for reach and recognition and is intended to position the platform as free access to entertainment formats.

The campaign motifs focus on formats from the ProSieben and Sat.1 Schweiz channels, including "Hype Kitchen" with Noah Bachofen and "Kurds im Ohr" with Yoldas and Serhat.

"With the new campaign, we are giving Joyn a fresh and effective face and, above all, creating awareness for what makes Joyn so unique: a free variety of programs that sets Joyn apart from other streamers in Switzerland," says Raphael Holzer, Head of Marketing at Seven.One Entertainment Group Switzerland.

"With Joyn, we can offer Switzerland a comprehensive entertainment package with numerous exclusive contents and lots of content on demand - and all for free," says Andrea Haemmerli, Managing Director at Seven.One Switzerland.

In future, Joyn will form the heart of Seven.One Switzerland's digital entertainment presence, Haemmerli continues: "With a strong focus on the offerings from the media library and a comprehensive live streaming area, Joyn in Switzerland will build on the established concept of Joyn Germany and Joyn Austria and continue the success story of Zappn."

A spin-off would result in two listed companies. MFE intends to submit a corresponding proposal for the spin-off at the ProSiebenSat1 Annual General Meeting on April 30. In this context, the company around the Berlusconi family is also arguing for the inclusion of an expert for takeovers and mergers on the Supervisory Board.

ProSiebenSat.1 is divided into three segments: The Entertainment business, with Joyn at its core, was responsible for two thirds of Group revenues in 2023, primarily through advertising in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Around 80% of the operating result adjusted for special effects (EBITDA) comes from the core business.

A thorn in MFE's side, however, is the dating division (ParshipMeet Group) and the e-commerce business with companies such as Flaconi, Verivox and Jochen Schweizer Mydays - all of which MFE wants ProSiebenSat.1 to divest. "The ProSiebenSat.1 Executive Board has repeatedly expressed its intention to separate the segments, but has not yet made any significant progress in this respect," argued the major shareholder. According to the ProSiebenSat.1 website, MFE holds around 26 percent of the shares.

As recently as Wednesday, ProSiebenSat.1 Supervisory Board Chairman Andreas Wiele called for a rapid reorganization of the Group with a focus on television and streaming. "A conglomerate that is active in many areas has never worked, especially not in the media business," said Andreas Wiele in an interview with the South German Newspaper. (SDA)

ProSiebenSat.1 CEO Bert Habets said on Thursday: "As expected, the second quarter continued to be characterized by a weak TV advertising market." In addition, the full consolidation of the streaming platform Joyn and a restructuring provision for the Group's reorganization, including the elimination of 400 jobs, weighed heavily on the quarterly result.

The new CFO Martin Mildner said that in the second half of the year he expected "a recovery in our advertising business and thus significant catch-up effects in sales and earnings. The MDAX-listed group confirmed its full-year forecast and expects sales of 4.1 billion euros and operating profit adjusted for special items of 600 million euros.

Media Group hopes for a strong end to the year

In the current third quarter, the operating result is expected to stagnate at the previous year's level. However, ProSiebenSat.1 announced that the last four months of the year, traditionally the strongest period for revenues and earnings in the advertising business, would be decisive.

In the second quarter, Group revenues fell 17 percent year on year to EUR 868 million. "Against the backdrop of the recessionary macroeconomic environment, advertising customers continued to invest only cautiously in TV advertising, as expected." This decline was only partially offset by growth in digital advertising revenues.

In addition, there was a shortfall in revenues from the US production business of Red Arrow Studios, which was sold in 2022. Revenues of the Dating & Video unit slumped by 18 percent, partly due to consumer restraint and partly due to stricter consumer protection rules affecting the subscription models of Parship and ElitePartner. By contrast, the online comparison portal Verivox and the online perfumery Flaconi made gains.

Jobs are cut

ProSiebenSat.1 announced that the Group's earnings were down "primarily due to the lower profitability of the advertising business. Adjusted operating income halved to EUR 79 million, and there was a loss after taxes of EUR 56 million. The restructuring provision of EUR 58 million made a major contribution to this.

Jobs that were filled twice after the acquisition of Joyn are now to be eliminated and costs reduced in order to be able to invest in digitalization and make ProSiebenSat.1 more profitable again in the long term. (SDA)

ProSiebenSat.1 plans to cut around 400 jobs in Germany this year. That would correspond to around one in ten jobs in the core entertainment business and in the holding company, a spokeswoman for the listed media group announced in Unterföhring near Munich on Tuesday.

The Group had announced a realignment after fully acquiring the Joyn streaming platform in fall 2022. ProSiebenSat.1 moved it to the center of its entertainment business.

According to the company, this will now be followed by a realignment of the organization, particularly in the Entertainment segment. The aim is "a more efficient structure, a competitive cost base and processes clearly geared to digital transformation," the Group announced.

Terminations to be avoided "as far as possible

The approximately 400 full-time positions are to be reduced in a socially responsible manner through a voluntary program. The company intends to avoid compulsory redundancies "as far as possible". For example, positions that become vacant will not be filled.

In the past, ProSiebenSat.1 significantly expanded its information offerings, building new studio space for programs for the ProSieben, Sat.1 and Kabel eins channels. Since this year, news has again been produced in-house; before that, it had been outsourced from Axel Springer's World purchased. The information division is not affected by the cutback plans, according to the company spokeswoman.

In its Austrian market, the Group plans to cut up to 35 jobs this year. It employs 550 people there.

Weak advertising market and many management changes

The job cuts come at an eventful time for the ProSiebenSat.1 Group, which operates TV stations and streaming services as well as Internet commerce and dating platform business. The advertising market has been weakening for some time. For the full year 2023, ProSiebenSat.1 management has so far forecast revenues of between EUR 3.95 billion and EUR 4.25 billion.

There was also a lot of change in the management team. In the fall of 2022, Bert Habets, who previously held top posts at competitor RTL, moved up to the top job. Rainer Beaujean left unexpectedly. Since then, the departure of board members in finance and entertainment has also been announced.

In addition, the actions of the Group's Management Board for the 2022 financial year were not approved by the shareholders; this is not expected to take place until 2023. The background to this is an ongoing internal investigation into possible discrepancies at the subsidiary voucher business Jochen Schweizer mydays. The aim is to review any misconduct in connection with regulatory issues at the subsidiary.

The Supervisory Board reserves the right to investigate claims for damages against Executive Board members, if necessary. According to ProSiebenSat.1, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bafin) and the public prosecutor's office in Munich have been called in - neither authority recently gave specific details in response to a question from Deutsche Presse-Agentur. (SDA)

Adjusted for special items, depreciation, amortization and impairment losses, shareholders incurred a loss of 15 million euros in the first quarter, compared with a profit of 38 million euros in the prior-year period, the company, which is listed on the German MDax share index, announced on Friday. Sales fell by 13.3 percent to 816 million euros in the same period.

Customers are still finding it difficult to place advertising for their products as a result of the consumer slump. However, the mood should brighten for the rest of the year, said Group CEO Bert Habets confidently: "We are already seeing significant improvements in advertising bookings in June compared to the previous months." Accordingly, adjusted operating profit (EBITDA) for the second quarter should be in the mid to high double-digit million euro range.

For the full year, the manager continues to expect sales of 3.95 billion to 4.25 billion euros and adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 550 million to 650 million euros. Compared with the new adjusted prior-year figures, the results could be both better and worse. (SDA)

But that would depend on how the advertising market in Germany, Austria and Switzerland developed. ProSiebenSat.1 wants to increase revenues by 4 to 5 percent a year on its own in the medium and long term.

The Group, known for its TV channels, ended last year with record revenues after taking in significantly more for its advertising units than initially expected - so good, in fact, that they were slightly above pre-Corona levels. As a result, the company's total revenues rose 11 percent to 4.5 billion euros, which it said was the highest ever. At 362 million euros, consolidated net profit was almost two-thirds higher than in 2021. (SDA)

"In addition to diminishing diversity of opinion, there would be numerous regulatory hurdles to overcome." The Group CEO, who has been in office for just over a year, added: "We therefore do not want to pursue such a defensive move, but instead concentrate fully on continuing our growth."

Two weeks ago, Beaujean had already emphasized that ProSiebenSat.1 was coming through the crisis better with its dating business and other online portals than pure media companies. This was also seen as a jab at the company's own major shareholder Mediaset, which wants to involve ProSieben more closely in its growth plans in Europe.

Now Beaujean told the FAZFor him, a merger with the Italian rival would not make sense. There is no added value, either in programming or product, he said. "Mediaset is a 100 percent TV provider, hanging on to fluctuating advertising revenues, which affects the profitability of the business." This is exactly the opposite of ProSiebenSat.1's development, he said.

Thomas Rabe, also head of Bertelsmann and its TV subsidiary RTL, had said in an interview that he could imagine a takeover of ProSiebenSat.1 if the antitrust authorities relented. Rabe advocates mergers in the TV industry at country level and wants to forge a national champion in France with the merger of RTL subsidiary M6 and broadcaster TF1 to stand up to Netflix&Co. (SDA)

Before the outbreak of the virus pandemic, the Bavarians had still targeted stagnating profits and around four percent more sales. "In 2020, we came out of the Covid 19 crisis quickly and strongly," said CEO Rainer Beaujean, referring to the fourth quarter. Here, the group increased profits by twelve percent to 377 million euros and made eleven percent more sales.

Weak advertising business

The advertising business in particular, which had slumped by 37 percent during the first lockdown in spring 2020, increased by three percent in the final quarter, which is so important for ProSiebenSat.1. "We are starting the new year optimistically," said Beaujean. In the current first quarter, Corona restrictions are likely to continue to weigh. But the Group CEO expects "a significant upswing in the further course of the year, as soon as the environment returns to normal.

Despite the hardly foreseeable course of the virus pandemic, the Group ventures a forecast for 2021, according to which operating profit is expected to rise to 720 to 780 million euros and sales are likely to increase to 4.15 to 4.35 billion euros. Meanwhile, the management and supervisory boards are proposing a dividend of 0.49 euros per share. (SDA)