In an interview with PROPMARK, the president of Grupo RBS, Claudio Toigo Filho, also talks about the strategy for the entry of an investor holding company
This year Grupo RBS celebrates its 65th anniversary and wants to be more and more connected with the issues of Rio Grande do Sul, and the discussion of what is important for the state is among the company’s priorities.
That’s what Claudio Toigo Filho, president of the company, says in this interview, which went through what he calls redirection and a new strategic cycle began. A few weeks ago, the company revealed that it is adopting a strategy for the entry of a holding of investors in the company and begins to prepare the corporate reorganization.
Has Grupo RBS undergone a recent restructuring? What are the main highlights of the change?
We prefer to call it a redirection, we started a new strategic cycle, which we are calling the Reconnection and Growth Cycle. After a stage in which we focused on reorganizing our business and operating model, in which we changed to better serve our customers, revisiting our service and commercial offers and also investing in digital, with the launch of GZH, our brand of journalism and digital sports, we are looking to the future, seeking to be ever closer to our strategic audiences, being the great talk tank for relevant topics in our state. To better meet this vision, in the second half of 2021, the Executive Committee underwent reformulations, with the creation of three new verticals: Strategy and Transformation, Journalism and Sport and Entertainment and Channels, in addition to the Finance, Marketing and Market fronts, which remain.
How much did the company invest in modernization?
By 2024, RBS’s strategic plan foresees an investment of R$70 million in the modernization of our TV and radio and digital technology parks. With regard to television, we are aware of the accelerated post-HD digital TV advancement, adopting technologies that enable content personalization, high quality and business expansion – TVs 2.5 and 3.0. With the evolution of television sets (smart TVs), including wide internet connectivity, 4k resolution capability and other advantages, RBS has delved into global development trends and systematically invested in the upgrade of infrastructure and operating and transmission equipment. In other words, in the future, the consumer will perceive significant advances in quality, and customers will have a range of new opportunities for relationship with the public.
What are RBS’s main products in the digital area?
I highlight our local journalism and sports platform, GZH. Born from the merger of our main local journalism brands (the newspaper Zero Hora and Rádio Gaúcha) in digital, it has a business model anchored in paid content and advertising and already has a portfolio of 106,300 subscribers, showing a growth of 8 .4% in organic subscriptions compared to 2021. Also in the previous year, total digital revenue grew 18%, effectively contributing to RBS’ results in the period. Based on our belief in the business, we have an audacious goal for the future, to grow 50% in three years. In addition, we see new opportunities emerging for our entertainment brands in digital and in producing content for brands in new formats. We are working on projects in this direction, especially in our radio brands.
Are advertisers investing more in media? Is growth to do with the pandemic keeping people at home?
The resumption of activities after the cooling of the pandemic reheated consumption, bringing positive results for the business. In this first quarter, we had a 17% growth in total revenues, compared to the same period in 2021. It is a demonstration that advertisers recognize the relevance of our brands as partners to achieve the desired results and the efficiency of our service customer centric, placing the advertiser and their needs at the center of the commercial strategy, with multiplatform performance. The highlight of this good performance is the retail segments, especially supermarkets, finance and events and shows. And we see great growth potential, especially in the interior of the state, where we have a long history and we are increasingly present.
What are the prospects for this year?
RBS announced a front for new businesses enhanced by communication: in the structuring phase, RBS Ventures will expand our scope of action. We also want to be ever closer to the communities where we operate. We are investing in initiatives that aim to promote innovation and development in Rio Grande do Sul. We are partners, for example, with Pacto Alegre and South Summit, in addition to being one of the founders of Instituto Caldeira, all organized society movements that bring together people, companies and institutions willing to make a difference in our state. With this same purpose, we led, in 2021, the articulation of entrepreneurs and entities for the United for the Vaccine movement in RS. We have also acted to give editorial visibility and institutional support to initiatives related to education, such as the Crie o Impossível project, focused on public school students, and the Pact for Education, which brings together entrepreneurs and educators committed to seeking solutions to improve the quality of teaching in the state. In addition, we sent a correspondent to Ukraine and also accompanied delegations of businessmen from Rio Grande do Sul to both the NRF, the largest global retail fair, and the SXSW, both in the United States. And in December we will be in Qatar to cover the World Cup, fulfilling our purpose of offering quality journalism, sports and entertainment and being where the news is, always with the eyes of the gauchos.
What is RBS’s biggest bet for 2022?
In 2022, the year in which the company turns 65, being more and more connected with the themes of Rio Grande do Sul, being the arena for the discussion of what is important for the state, is among the company’s priorities. And, in this context of disinformation in which we find ourselves, we must continue to fulfill our role by doing professional and independent, credible journalism, and promoting plural discussion – essential at any time, but especially in an election year. Furthermore, with an eye on the future, we are open, motivated and inspired for a new cycle of evolution and growth, to associate our company with new businesses and partnerships as in media for equity. An example of this is RBS Ventures itself. But even in traditional businesses, we want to have an increasingly open architecture, attentive to new business models and initiatives that generate impact.
Is the website a company priority?
RBS is a leading communication company in all segments in Rio Grande do Sul. Our priority is to produce journalism, sports and entertainment that meet the needs of the Rio Grande do Sul public and help brands to have access to this public. Digital is one of the means by which we achieve these goals, but we have a very strong belief in television and radio, for example, and in how digital can leverage these platforms.
And the radio? The middle survives strongly, despite all negative bets. To what do you attribute this strength?
The habit of radio consumption in Rio Grande do Sul is very peculiar. Gaúcha, our News and Sport station, for example, is the leader of the radio medium in Greater Porto Alegre, reaching 1.1 million listeners monthly, a phenomenon that is not repeated in any other region of the country, where music radios usually occupy this leadership position. On the other hand, Rádio 92, launched just four years ago with a focus on popular music hits, is consolidated as one of the main brands in the segment, reaching 642 thousand listeners monthly in Greater Porto Alegre – second only to Gaúcha in the range from 6 am to 12 am. . Operating in the youth behavior segment, Atlântida radio promotes the largest music festival in the south of the country, Planeta Atlântida, and has a strong presence in the interior of the state. In addition, radio has the possibility of combining typical characteristics of the medium, such as agility and mobility, with new formats. This works a lot in both journalism and entertainment. New possibilities for brand extension have emerged, such as Bola nas Costas, Atlântida’s entertainment/soccer program that grows exponentially in digital. Last year, the attraction registered more than 97 million impacts on the brand’s social networks. The show’s podcast is consistently in the top ten in Spotify’s Sports category and is the third most popular in this same segment on Deezer. And we are sure that there is room to innovate and grow even more.
What are the broadcaster’s projects for the World Cup?
With the mission of being where the news is, RBS will have a multimedia team in Qatar to cover the World Cup “from gaucho to gaucho”, bringing the event closer to our audiences, with a regional focus. The only Brazilian radio station present at the Tokyo Olympics, Gaúcha will also be the only sublicensed broadcaster in the south of the country to broadcast the World Cup games. Our team will generate content for different platforms, amplifying the reverberation of RBS’ presence. With game narration, news teams in the stadiums, daily monitoring of the selection and its opponents, in addition to exclusive interviews and analysis, we will have a consistent product of great commercial attractiveness.
What is the position of RBS in the ranking of broadcasters in the Globo system?
RBS TV was one of Globo’s first affiliates, and since then it has been one of the largest operations, both in number of stations (we are 12) and in audience performance. Our historical performance is consistently above the average of the PNT (Painel Nacional de Televisão), which is made up of the 15 largest cities in Brazil: on the average of the day, RBS TV has 54% of the audience among linear channels in Rio Grande do Sul.
RBS leads in Rio Grande do Sul. Does the competition touch the broadcaster’s audience?
Based on our journalism, sports and entertainment brands, we are leaders in all the segments in which we operate, a position that is a source of pride as it proves our strong relationship with the gauchos. RBS TV is the most watched broadcaster in the state: more than 4 million gauchos are reached daily by our programming. Among open TV channels, RBS TV has a 63% share, which corresponds to almost 5 times the size of the second placed broadcaster. In radio, RBS has been a leader with Gaúcha for more than 7 years in the main square of the state, Grande Porto Alegre. With Atlântida radio, we are leaders in the A/B youth segment. In terms of digital, GZH is the largest news platform in the state, with around 12.3 million users per month and more than 106,000 subscribers.
Which agency serves RBS? What is the marketing budget?
We currently have a pool of agencies serving the brands in the RBS portfolio. In addition, we choose our partners according to the business challenges and constantly connect with different agencies to carry out projects together. As examples, the Grupo RBS brand is served by Escala; RBS TV and Gaúcha, for Ideia da Silva; and Diário Gaúcho, by Moove. Our investments in marketing are at the level of R$ 10 million per year, excluding investment in media, as RBS owns the channels where it distributes its advertising campaigns and communication actions.
