ProSiebenSat.1 Group can reach around 45 million TV households with its stations in its TV markets in the DACH region; at the end of 2018 the digital offerings managed by SevenOne Media GmbH, ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s marketer had a monthly reach of around 34 million unique users (aged 16 or over). In addition, ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s global digital studio Studio71 generated an average of 9.2 billion video views a month with its web channels in 2018.
Sources for reach key figures: Television households (D: AGF in cooperation with GfK, TV Scope 6.1; AT: AGTT/GfK TELETEST, Evogenius; CH: Mediapulse television panel (Instar Analytics)), Unique User (AGOF), Video Views (Google/YouTube)
The distributed content contributes to pluralism and the diversity of information and helps to shape the opinions of viewers and users. This is a great privilege but also a special responsibility for ProSiebenSat.1 Group. As a media group, our reach gives us significant social and journalistic responsibility. We therefore try to use our media offerings to focus on important ecological, societal and sociopolitical matters and to appeal to young people in particular, in order to make a valuable contribution to society (public value) as a company. We are committed to a free and democratic order as laid down in the constitution (Grundgesetz) of the Federal Republic of Germany and observe the principles of editorial freedom and journalistic independence.
Our public value activities also serve to increase the public relevance of our TV stations and media offerings, thus setting us apart from our competitors. This means that, due to the large number of available free TV and pay TV stations, social engagement in the ProSiebenSat.1 Group station family is also a tool for brand management and loyalty. In the media industry, being a strong brand means not only having a high profile but also a enjoying a high degree of trust and credibility. Another important reason for dealing with sustainability issues is to secure revenues and reduce risks, as our initiatives help us achieve greater acceptance of our offers and business models among important stakeholders such as viewers and Internet users, politicians and regulatory authorities, and advertising customers and media agencies. They therefore represent an important non-financial aspect for ProSiebenSat.1 Group.
When it comes to sustainability, ProSiebenSat.1 Group has defined priority areas such as opinion forming, media skills, dissemination of information, employee engagement (corporate volunteering), and donations and sponsorship. When selecting, implementing, and supporting projects, we pursue four strategic goals: We want to build knowledge, offer opportunities, communicate values, and promote culture. In doing so, we base our actions on regulations such as the ProSiebenSat.1 Group Code of Conduct, the International Federation of Journalists’ Principles on the Conduct of Journalists, and internal guidelines on data protection, protection of young people, and the separation of advertising and programming. We already measure the success of our measures quantitatively in some cases, for example based on TV formats’ audience shares, employee involvement in projects such startsocial, or funds raised in the RED NOSE DAY campaigns.
When choosing our measures, we focus on topical, socially significant issues that affect young target groups in particular. For example, relevant content is identified by the editorial teams of the TV stations as part of their journalistic work and corresponding formats and program environments are developed for it. One example is the sustainability brand “Green Seven”: The broadcast of the annual “Green Seven” documentary on a specific environmental topic (2018: “Save the Future — How to Prevent Gridlock”) on ProSieben is supported by the same thematic focus in magazines and other programs. In addition, ideas for supporting social projects or implementing internal initiatives at the Company also come directly from the workforce, such as the refugee aid project “WE HELP.” An example of an initiative with external partners is the “Wir stärken Kinder” (We support children) campaign, which was set up by Sportdeutschland.TV, ProSiebenSat.1 Group’s digital sports channel, in cooperation with the charity SOS-Kinderdorf e.V. three years ago. Top-tier athletes from various disciplines invite kids from the SOS Children’s Villages to sporting events or run sports activities for them as a way of boosting community spirit and imparting important values. The ProSiebenSat.1 Group subsidiary 7Sports thus uses the reach of its digital platform Sportdeutschland.TV in order to get athletes interested in the campaign and to raise additional donations.
052 / ProSiebenSat.1 Advisory Board
Since 2011, the Group has placed its public value activities in a larger social context and underscored their relevance for the Group by establishing an Advisory Board. The interdisciplinary body chaired by Bavaria’s former minister president Dr. Edmund Stoiber advises ProSiebenSat.1 Group on relevant social, ethical and media-political issues and provides impetus on important topics such as education and culture. In 2018, the Advisory Board met twice. Members of the Executive Board as well as other decision-makers in the Group participated in these events.