GRUP MEDIAPRO Reorganizing Business Structure, Creating Two New Business Units and More

GRUP MEDIAPRO announces changes to its internal structure designed to consolidate and reinforce its commitment to an agile, minimally centralized and very transversal and horizontal organization in which the various areas and divisions enjoy considerable autonomy and decision-making ability. The new structure also entails a generational change in the group’s management.
GRUP MEDIAPRO now gains two additional business units with the creation of the Channels and Platforms unit, to be directed by Daniel Margalef, and the new Mediapro Experiences unit, directed by David Xirau.

Channels and Platforms will bring together all the group’s activities related to the planning, production and distribution of all existing channels and platforms, including channels for new audiences and all advertising sales, as well as the expansion of the group in the sphere of new digital content.

In the case of Mediapro Experiences, this new unit will spearhead the group’s activity relating to experiential formats, such as brand activations, museums, exhibitions, and virtual and immersive events and experiences, bringing together all the talent and knowhow the group has acquired over the years in the design, production and execution of physical and digital experiences.

Accordingly, the group’s business units are now as follows: Broadcast Media Services, directed by José Luis Rubio; The Mediapro Studio, the responsibility of Laura Fernández Espeso; the Sports Rights Agency, led by Oliver Seibert; Channels and Platforms, with Dani Margalef in charge, Mediapro Experiences, directed by David Xirau, and Innovation, with Mari Carmen Fernández Tallón at the helm.

Management of the Sports Rights Agency will pass to Oliver Seibert, thus both he, Dani Margalef and David Xirau, all with long careers within the group, will sit on the management committee upon assuming their new roles.

The management of Innovation will be strengthened due to a multidisciplinary team tasked with promoting innovation across all business units with a view to ensuring the group remains the industry’s frontrunner when it comes to new technology.

Tatxo Benet, president and CEO of GRUP MEDIAPRO, announces the new structure, under which Juan Ruiz de Gauna will continue as General Manager of GRUP MEDIAPRO until January 1, 2025, at which time Laura Fernández Espeso, currently CEO of The Mediapro Studio, will step into the role. Also next January, José Luis Rubio, will hand over the baton as Director of Broadcast Media Services to Alberto Vía, currently CEO of Overon. Juan Ruiz de Gauna and José Luis Rubio will maintain their links with the company.

Tatxo Benet: “This restructuring will reinforce and refresh the group’s leadership in the audiovisual industry, integrating the entire value chain and guaranteeing the continuity and future of the company with five professionals who have been with GRUP MEDIAPRO for over 15 years and who are fully dedicated to the purpose, mission and values of the group. The people taking on the new roles not only represent a generational change, but are evidence of GRUP MEDIAPRO’s commitment to its inhouse talent.”

Laura Fernández Espeso, began her career in the independent film industry over 20 years ago, working with directors such as Francis Ford Coppola, Danis Tanovic, Ken Loach and Juan José Campanella. In 2009, she joined Globomedia as Director of its Film area and in 2012 she also took on the leadership of International TV Development. In 2015, she was appointed Head of International Content at GRUP MEDIAPRO, promoting its strategy of international productions and co-productions around the world, as well as the development of international branches and the global distribution area. In 2019 she took on management of TV and Corporate management of The Mediapro Studio. She has been CEO of The Mediapro Studio since 2020, where she leads the creation, production and distribution strategy for the more than 100 fiction (TV and film) and non-fiction titles that the Studio produces annually worldwide.

Alberto Vía, currently CEO of Overon, began his career at Grup Mediapro in 1999 at the helm of Globecast España, a company owned by France Telecom and Mediapro. Earlier, he honed his professional skills at Retevision (currently Celnex). In 2002 he joined the French delegation of Globecast as EMEA Vice President of Sales and Marketing, returning to Spain in 2006 to head the newly created Overon, a broadcast services company that is part of GRUP MEDIAPRO.

Oliver Seibert joined the Mediapro rights division in 2007 from Infront Sports & Media. He has participated in the negotiation and commercial exploitation of rights contracts (LaLiga, FIFA, UEFA, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, French league, Belgian league), including the international marketing of the Spanish soccer league, playing a decisive role in the boost to its market value. In fact, La Liga has gone from earning under €100M in 2007 to over €700M today.

Dani Margalef kicked off his career in 1985 in TV3’s Sports Department, where he was head of sports production from 1997 to 2004 and head of Sports Rights Management from 2004-13. In 2004 he was appointed General Director of Audiovisual Sport, a position he held until 2007, combining it with his responsibilities at TV3. In 2013 he joined GRUP MEDIAPRO as coordinator of the sports rights department and relations with La Liga.

David Xirau started out in the field of strategic consulting at Andersen Consulting and Europraxis. After his time at Barcelona’s Universal Forum of Cultures (2004), he came on deck at Mediapro (2005) as head of special projects, fostering R&D and carrying out exhibition projects such as the Spanish pavilion at Expo Zaragoza and the FCB museum. In 2013, Mediapro Exhibitions was created under his direction, the museography and exhibitions unit of the group that has designed and produced projects such as Cosmocaixa’s Sala Univers in Barcelona, the Real Madrid Immersive Tour, and recently the Mirador torre Glòries, also in Barcelona.