Ábside Media continues to build its new structure with transformation and digitalisation as the main protagonists. The communication group that includes the main Church media, such as COPE and TRECE, has created a new department called Transformation, strategy and development of new businesses, which will play an important role in the new stage that began this summer.

Proof of Ábside Media’s strong commitment to the new unit is, on the one hand, the appointment as director of Andoni Orrantia, until now COPE’s Programming Director and “one of the journalists with the best radio criteria”, according to different journalists of the radio station. In his 30 years of professional career, he has worked in positions of responsibility at La SER, Onda Cero, Radio Euskadi, Sinfo Radio Antena 3, Vatican Radio (Italy) and COPE. And in television, he has worked at Mediaset and EITB. He has also written for El País, Deia, Diario de Navarra and eldiario.es.

On the other hand, the notable importance of the new unit lies in its position in the organisational chart, as three other new directorates will depend on it: Programming and News Content, which takes on veteran COPE journalist Enrique Campo; Innovation and Digital Strategy, with digital transformation expert Javier de Mora and, as DIRCOMFIDENCIAL advanced, Global Communication and Brand, with Jacobo Menéndez, a journalist who has worked at El Confidencial or LLYC.

 

One of the priorities of Orrantia’s management will be to work on “the coordination, synergies and unity of action of COPE, TRECE, cope.es and new projects linked to audio on demand”, as the group reports. To this end, they will be supported by Valle Higueras, as deputy director of Programming and Data; and Nicolás Rubio, deputy director of News Content and Editing.

The group, which prefers not to reveal details of the new roadmap for the moment, is already working on the transformation. A process that will include the diversification of income, the integral management of content and the service to brands and advertisers, as determined by the 2022-2025 strategic plan.

Refocusing distribution and boosting big data, essential focuses of the group

Abside Media’s CEO, Javier Visiers, points out that “we are no longer just talking about radio and television but about content and we need to anticipate what is to come in the way we produce and distribute it. In an increasingly competitive environment and with the emergence of new players, one of the challenges lies in getting distribution and big data right. We need to be prepared and continue to be relevant for the listener/viewer/user and for brands. And for that, we need to bet on a more convergent culture within the company that will make us more efficient”.

The new appointments are in addition to those already announced last June when José Luis Restán took over as non-executive chairman of the group, Javier Visiers became CEO and Lucía Fernández del Viso, general manager.