Carta del Presidente
José Manuel Lara’s appointment as Chairman of Antena 3 heralded the start of one of the greatest periods of success and growth in the company’s history. Today, 12 years on, Antena 3 has become Atresmedia, the largest communications group in our country.
José Manuel Lara’s appointment as Chairman of Antena 3 heralded the start of one of the greatest periods of success and growth in the company’s history. Today, 12 years on, Antena 3 has become Atresmedia, the largest communications group in our country and a leading global operator in the most important business areas within the audiovisual sector: television, radio, cinema and the digital environment. This is his legacy: a bright present and a future full of opportunities.
He knew how to make us not only bigger, but also stronger and more efficient. He turned Atresmedia into an organisation capable of dealing with any obstacles and with him at the helm we have been able to overcome, like few others, the greatest economic crisis ever known without ever taking our eye off the need for profitability. He taught us that innovation, the ability to adapt and non-conformity were the ways to achieve our objectives.
Now, the challenge for all of us who form part of this company, and the commitment that I personally adopted on 25 February when I was appointed Chairman of Atresmedia, is to carry on this great legacy. I take on the challenge with humility, aware that it will not be easy, but with the confidence and pride of knowing that I can count on the best possible team of professionals and the invaluable support of the Board of Directors. I have the responsibility of continuing with a management approach based on excellence and the energy and ambition to maintain and consolidate Atresmedia’s key role in the Spanish audiovisual sector.
I take on the challenge with humility, aware that it will not be easy, but with the confidence and pride of knowing that I can count on the best possible team of professionals and the invaluable support of the Board of Directors.The results for 2014 contained in this report speak for themselves in terms of the strength of our company and this privileged position in the market to which I have just referred. Similarly, they highlight our great ability to take advantage of each and every growth opportunity that arises, even in the most adverse of circumstances and, ultimately, they confirm that the strategy established in recent years has been the right one.
Our overall approach as a Group has been to commit to plurality and diversity as a differentiating value and to become an important and necessary part of a society, which we are here to serve, which is also plural and diverse. At the same time, all of our media channels and each of the business areas where we operate share attributes (commitment to quality, talent, creativity and supporting the industry) that make Atresmedia a recognisable and well-respected operator. This is the balance that has allowed us to distance ourselves from our competitors, providing us with personality, and that has earned the respect of the market, the advertisers, the audience and the audiovisual sector itself. It is undoubtedly a fundamental factor in the constant improvement in our financial results, which in 2014, as in recent years, can only be described as extraordinary.
Our overall approach as a Group has been to commit to plurality and diversity as a differentiating value and to become an important and necessary part of a society, which we are here to serve, which is also plural and diverse.By division, our television area is celebrating its anniversary. On 25 December 1989, Antena 3 began its test broadcasts and became the first private television network in the history of our country. Twenty five years later we can proudly say that our way of understanding and making television has allowed us to combine, like no other, reputation, large audiences and profitability. The sum of these three factors, which are not easy to combine in such a competitive market, make not only Antena 3 but also its family of channels, Atresmedia TV, the favourite TV operator with audiences, the one with the best professionals according to the Spanish people, an absolute leader in genres as important as news and drama, the one showing most commitment to the development of the sector and technological progress and the one with most awards and the best image. In short, a truly leading organisation in society and the industry as a whole.
Despite ending 2014 with three fewer channels than at the start of the year and two fewer than our main competitor, as a result of the well-known judgement from the Supreme Court, Atresmedia Television has closed the year with a 27.7% audience share, has managed to lead in the evening timeslot, one the most important, with 30.4%, and has the highest rate of hits in the market. By network, Antena 3 achieved its highest figures over the last five years, after three consecutive years of growth, and is the absolute leader in the commercial target. laSexta, meanwhile, has closed its best ever year and the second generation networks, Neox and Nova, have been the most viewed in their genre and audience, also breaking audience records.
For 2015 we trust that the legal and administrative uncertainties that are still affecting the TV sector will begin to fade and we can finally run our business in the stable environment that is so desired and necessary.
Atresmedia Radio has once again demonstrated the strength of its offering as a whole. Onda Cero remains the station with the best rate of profitability per listener and Europa FM does not seem to have found its limit yet and continues to gain positions in the ranking of radio formulas. Both have once again been the fastest growing in 2014. Far from being satisfied with these figures, we have been able to successfully expand our family of stations through Melodia FM.
With Atresplayer established as the absolute market leader for consuming audiovisual products across all the new media supports, Atresmedia Digital has accumulated more than 530 million playbacks across all its channels, double that in 2013, and has created Atrestube, the Atresmedia multi-channel platform on Youtube with more than 30 offers of self-produced news and entertainment. Similarly it has boosted its growth strategy with new verticals that have doubled the audience throughout the year and have placed, among other milestones, Antena 3 as the private network with the most fans on Facebook and the first national television network to exceed one million followers on this social network.
Atresmedia Cine, meanwhile, has been a notable leader and driving force in what has been considered one of the best years in the history of Spanish cinema. All of the productions from our film division were among the 25 most viewed and three of them were among the five with the most viewers: Torrente 5, Exodus: dioses y reyes and La isla mínima, the latter having been hugely popular with audiences and critics alike and having won recognition as the film of the year.
Atresmedia Diversificación has strengthened its expansion policy during 2014. The Atres Series channels, launched last year, ¡Hola! TV and Antena 3 Internacional together now exceed 25 million subscribed households throughout the world, turning our Group into the European private television operator with the most signals outside its borders. Similarly, the media for equity area has been strengthened and at year end we had a portfolio of seven participating companies with a high growth potential.
The success of all these activities and business areas is largely possible thanks to the efficiency of Atresmedia Publicidad which has again been the largest seller of multimedia advertising on the Spanish market with a share of 23% of the total investment in conventional media. The creation of AtresmediaLab, a laboratory for innovation and technology applied to advertising, and the Advertisers’ Office, are the result of its constant desire to improve.
For many years corporate responsibility has been a strategic and cross-cutting feature at Atresmedia and in all that time it has constantly provided us with value.However Atresmedia is not a leader just because of its business success. Its position is also due to its commitment to society. For many years corporate responsibility has been a strategic and cross-cutting feature at Atresmedia and in all that time it has constantly provided us with value. We are aware of the transforming ability that we have as a transmedia group and the positive impact that our messages can have on society. As a result, we do not hesitate to use our power to raise awareness and mobilise people to help deal with the problems that affect and concern the public. Examples include road safety, healthcare, protecting intellectual property rights, promoting medical research and the education of children and young people. Initiatives such as Ponle Freno and the constant activity of Fundación Atresmedia have been helping society for almost ten years, and new initiatives like Objetivo Bienestar, Constantes y Vitales and Crea Cultura were created in 2014 to follow in their footsteps.
The accessibility of our content, advertising self-regulation, and a commitment to the future of the profession through training young people are also found among our strongest commitments. Being a member of the main corporate responsibility forums such as the Global Compact, the Media CSR Forum and most recently the Asociación Española para la Calidad (Spanish Association for Quality), has helped us to consolidate our global corporate responsibility strategy, which we work on with dedication and conviction and which has allowed us to differentiate ourselves in the industry, stand out among listed companies and receive several awards.
José Manuel Lara ended his letter last year by looking towards the future, which he described as promising. Especially, he said, given what we had been able to achieve when the wind was blowing against us. As always, he was right. Those of us who now take up the baton from him have a wind that, although only slightly, is now blowing in our favour and we also have the benefit of the professional heritage left to us by one of the best businessmen that our country has ever seen. It will not be easy, but we have the responsibility, commitment and willingness to work to ensure that Atresmedia remains the leading Spanish communications group and I am sure that we will achieve this.
