Mfe returns to operating profit but reports a fall in revenue over the first nine months

“It’s really tough.” MFE’s chief executive, Pier Silvio Berlusconi, is not willing to sugar-coat things, either regarding the effort to stay on course amidst an evolutionary change that has affected the whole of Mediaset – with expansion into countries other than Italia (Spain, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Portugal) – nor on the current situation on the stock market, where the shares are down by 26.5 per cent (Mfe B) and 30.5 per cent (Mfe A) compared to the start of the year: ‘I’d be tempted to say misfortune shared is misfortune halved. It’s a reflection of the current climate; just look at what’s happening to Netflix.’

There is no shortage of good news. However, it stems solely from efficiency gains and synergies. For the time being, it is these factors that are restoring profit margins. In the first nine months, the Chairman and Group CEO of MFE announced – a few days ahead of the presentation of the nine-month results, scheduled for 18 November – the group’s adjusted operating profit returned to positive territory at 110.1 million, representing an improvement of 133.8 million on the pro forma figure for 2025 (which stood at -23 million). In the entertainment sector (“I’m not taking the full group figure into account because it would be a staggering amount,” clarified Berlusconi), “the estimated efficiencies were initially in the region of 35–40 million, then revised upwards to 120 million in the spring. But we are now at 250 million in savings and will close 2026 with 300 million in reduced costs. For this reason, the entertainment sector will post an operating profit of 122.2 million, around three and a half times that of the previous year’. By way of comparison, in France, TF1 stands at 102 million (-42 per cent) and M6 at 93 million (-35 per cent).

Whilst the German integration is progressing faster than expected, efficiencies and synergies alone are not enough to revive the market: in Italia, television advertising is expected to fall by 2–2.5 per cent in 2026, despite the Winter Olympics and the World Cup. Mfe aims to gain market share in Italia and Germany, excluding sporting events not included in its offering; ‘Spain remains more challenging’. Ultimately, however, the revenue figures for the nine-month period are expected to be mathematically in the red.

The industry’s response – not the only one, of course, but certainly the key one – is to seek a different scale. ‘France would be the missing piece,’ says Pier Silvio Berlusconi. The names on the table are TF1 and M6, which were previously involved in a merger attempt that ran aground on antitrust regulations. No deal has been announced, but there is explicit willingness: ‘It goes without saying that, should the opportunity arise, we might be interested.’ Television assets that Skydance might put up for sale in Europe could also come into the picture: “We’ll see if anything comes onto the market.” A willingness to explore opportunities (for now, the talk is of partnerships, but the scope is vast) is also expressed when discussing CME, the Czech media company with a strong presence in Central and Eastern Europe.

The other front is digital. Mediaset is set to launch a pan-European OTT platform in the first quarter. Infinity, which arrived in Spain in the summer of 2025, will thus also launch in Germany, featuring the Italian front end and German technology. After all, Germany is seen as the group’s driving force from a technological perspective. Munich is home to the hub for innovation and artificial intelligence. And it is from there that the new virtual assistant, Mia, has emerged, designed to support people, processes and products, from archives to dubbing.