Regional European broadcasters must stop mimicking the growth metrics of American streaming giants and instead forge competitive advantages through strict commercial alignment and targeted engagement. This mandate drives the current strategic framework at Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1, according to Felix Krause, the company’s EVP of Group Strategy. During a recent industry panel addressing mixed-revenue models and capital discipline, he detailed how legacy media organizations must unite their content, product, technology, and commercial teams to survive an era defined by rapid technological shifts and aggressive market consolidation.
Drawing on his six years of experience transforming DAZN into a profitable sports streamer in the German market, Krause emphasized that regional broadcasters lacking global scale cannot win through volume alone. While US platforms have transitioned from prioritizing reach to demanding profitability, ProSiebenSat.1 is narrowing its scope. ‘I think really for a broadcaster that doesn’t have the scale like the American giants have… it’s really about focusing on the areas where you have a right to win’, the executive stated. He defined this approach as finding a distinct competitive advantage and driving deep engagement within specific, winnable verticals.
Operating primarily as an advertising-first business, ProSiebenSat.1 is currently focusing on fixing fundamental commercial journeys rather than over-engineering the user experience. Krause warned against product strategies that prioritize superficial customer-friendly features at the expense of commercial viability, specifically citing interfaces that actively prompt users to delete their data. ‘That’s not how we can compete in this world’, he argued, asserting that the average consumer does not demand or appreciate such features.
Implementing these strategic shifts requires overcoming entrenched organizational cultures, particularly within legacy broadcasters where staff may have decades of traditional television experience. To achieve cross-functional orchestration among technology, product, and commercial divisions, Krause advocated abandoning traditional corporate workshops in favor of concrete proposition and pricing projects. By establishing a strict set of customer promises, the strategy team forces cross-departmental alignment. ‘You have a list of bullets that you need to make true’, he explained. ‘That is such a powerful tool to align teams across every part of the business… making people having the right context, getting into the right direction’.
This internal drive for alignment coincides with a period of aggressive macroeconomic pressure and market consolidation across the European media sector. Following a wave of mergers in 2025—including RTL’s acquisition of Sky in Germany—ProSiebenSat.1 now operates under the ownership of the Berlusconi family’s MediaForEurope (MFE). While Krause acknowledged that rapid M&A activity can create anxiety among employees, he positioned the consolidation as a necessary mechanism for enforcing strategic discipline. ‘I do think it has a value. This consolidation has a value because you keep getting rid of the things that distract you’, the executive concluded, describing the trend as a healthy driver of operational focus.
