Solid quarter for Mediaset in Spain

Italian media group Mediaset’s Spanish business has seen its total net revenues for the year-to-date increase by 10.5% to €603.8 million.

In the nine months to September, Mediaset España registered an EBITDA of €152.4 million (+1.6% vs. same period 2020). Its net profit in the first nine months of 2021 reached €114.2 (+10.6% vs same period 2020), representing earnings per share of €0.36.

In terms of viewership, Mediaset España registered 508 million video streamed per month, up 29% vs the same period of 2020. It also noted an average of 19.3 million unique internet users per month. 

Daily average total TV consumption for the period was down from 239 minutes per day in the first nine months of 2020 to 216 minutes in 2021. The company did not note this as a negative however, with easing Covid-19 restrictions meaning that consumers are less likely to be stuck indoors. 

Linear TV consumption represented 96.7% of the total, amounting to an average of 209 minutes per day. Time shift consumption only represents 3.2% of total TV consumption for Mediaset España. 

Overall, the company said that its daily average TV viewers stands at 6.6 million people. 

With solid TV performance, analysts from Berenberg suggest that these results lay the groundwork for the integration of Mediaset España with its parent company. 

The analyst said: “We think the next step by the Italian group will be a move to a fully consolidated Mediaset España, as was previously envisaged under the Media for Europe plan. 

“While we do not expect Mediaset to offer a premium for the minority interest in the Spanish subsidiary, we believe that synergies from a combination of the two could provide meaningful upside for shareholders in both companies. With an unlevered FCF yield of 18%, Mediaset España is clearly not pricing in any such upside.”