Press Release

Mediaset Collaborates with FreeWheel and Comcast Technology Solutions to Power Next-Generation Monetisation Strategy

December 6, 2018

The Italian broadcaster simultaneously deploys technology solutions by FreeWheel and Comcast Technology Solutions to enhance its content monetisation and widen its consumer reach

MILAN, ITALY – FreeWheel and Comcast Technology Solution have announced a partnership with Mediaset for the platform Mediaset Play, a new live and on demand online streaming service. The new offering helps unify Mediaset’s video distribution and advertising stack and is part of the broadcaster’s overarching AVOD (Advertising VOD) strategy. Mediaset Play is the result of a new collaboration and deployment of technologies powered by FreeWheel and Comcast Technology Solutions (CTS), both part of Comcast Cable.

One of the main benefits of the integration is the ability for Mediaset to optimise the distribution of its video on demand (VOD) services. As a result, the broadcaster will reach a wider set of consumers. It also gives consumers greater choice and enhances the user experience through the platform’s stability, improving the functionality of its live streaming.

Mediaset CTO Maurizio Galli remarked: “We chose the Comcast Technology Solutions and FreeWheel platforms because they are true leaders in their field and offer a solid solution to support our business needs. This collaboration will ensure Mediaset continues to innovate in a competitive market.”

Mediaset Play integrates the combined, industry leading technologies of Comcast Technology Solutions’ online video management platform and FreeWheel’s ad management platform. Together, these technologies will unify and power Mediaset’s monetisation strategy for content and ads as it launches new apps on the web, iOS, Android and smart TV, the latter being developed with cutting-edge HbbTV technology. Mediaset Play also enriches the new generation of advertising products offered by Publitalia, Mediaset’s sales unit, enabling new models of interactive and addressable TV advertising.

Paola Colombo, General Manager, Adtech and Business Development for Publitalia said: “By being able to use the Comcast Technology Solutions and FreeWheel platforms as part of an integrated technology stack, Mediaset will be able to achieve high quality delivery and improved time to market through one standardised platform and vendor. The collaboration will also ensure that we, in partnership with Mediaset, can better monetise content optimally, and increase revenue and provide a better yield on investment.

Mediaset was the exclusive broadcaster of the 2018 FIFA World Cup and utilizing this new Mediaset Play offering, it was able to reach a wider audience and increase sales. The broadcaster transmitted every match live. As a result, it reached nearly 300 million viewers in total and amassed 35 million views online and on mobile, further enriching content fruition via smart TVs with the interactive HbbTV app, and generating greater user engagement and increasing sales through this innovative platform and partnership.

Thomas Bremond, General Manager, International, FreeWheel and Comcast Technology Solutions, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Mediaset and to be able to provide them with a robust and scalable technology solution. Combining FreeWheel and Comcast Technology Solutions’ unique platforms gives Mediaset the ability to segment their various business models, while knowing they have the high quality and trusted reputation of Comcast behind them.”

About Mediaset: The Mediaset Group, the leading commercial television operator in Italy and Spain, is one of Europe’s biggest media companies. Mediaset Italia has been listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since 1996, and Mediaset Espana on the Madrid Stock exchange since 2004.

The group’s core business is generalist commercial TV and, in Italy, Mediaset has three national channels: Canale 5, Italia 1 and Retequattro, while in Spain, the group has two national channels Telecinco and Cuatro.

In recent years Mediaset has launched ten new free-to-air thematic channels: Iris, 20, Focus, La5, Mediaset Italia2, Mediaset Extra, Top Crime, Boing, Cartoonito and the all-news channel TgCom24. In 2008 Mediaset founded “Mediaset Premium”, an innovative pay-TV channel, offering the best premium content and in December 2013, it launched “Infinity”, an online video streaming service that makes available over 6000 movies , fiction and tv series over the web. In 2016 Mediaset debuted in radio publishing business. The new RadioMediaset society includes R101, Radio 105, Virgin Radio, Radio Montecarlo and Radio Subasio. RadioMediaset is already the first radio group in Italy.

About Publitalia ’80: Italy’s leading advertising sales house,owned by the Mediaset Group.

About FreeWheel: FreeWheel, a Comcast Advanced Advertising Company, is the industry’s most complete advertising management solution. Purpose built for the New TV ecosystem, we enable our collective client base across all key industry segments to manage and monetise their premium video inventory in the brand safe ways they require. Our leading technology, unmatched service and guidance, and collaborative advocacy power the advertising businesses of the largest media and entertainment companies in the world, including AOL, DIRECTV, Fox, NBC Universal, Turner Broadcasting System, and Viacom in the U.S., and MTG, Sky, Canal + and Channel 4 in Europe. Our offerings work in synchronised tandem to meet every aspect of our clients’ business needs across all screens, data sets, and monetisation channels, while providing the full safety, compliance, and control the New TV ecosystem demands. With offices in New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, Beijing, and across the globe, FreeWheel stands to advocate for the entire industry through the FreeWheel Council for Premium Video. For more information please visit /, and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Comcast Technology Solutions: Comcast Technology Solutions, a division of Comcast Cable, brings innovations from Comcast to the advertiser, content provider, global operator, and technology industries — providing solutions to our collective challenges and helping to forge a shared vision for the future. Built on Comcast’s know-how, proven facilities, platforms, and infrastructure, Comcast Technology Solutions offers more than 20 years of real-world broadcast and digital experience. We deliver technology beyond expectations to help customers develop new business models and transform the customer experience. For more information, visit www.comcasttechnologysolutions.com/.

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