Rosa Romà: "The noise that's happening now in the Corporation is intentional. We'd been in decline for ten years and nobody said anything."

BarcelonaRosa Romà has now passed the halfway point of her term as head of the Catalan Audiovisual Media Corporation. In this in-depth interview, she addresses the controversy surrounding 3Cat's trademarks, the ratings of the children's channel, those of Catalunya Ràdio, and the competition from RTVE's La2 Cat.

The workers have voted, and 90% are demanding that "TV3, Catalunya Ràdio, and all its brands remain active and visible." Are you considering backtracking on your plan?

— We agree with the wishes expressed by the majority of the staff, because, as we've already stated, we want to keep our brands active and visible. Therefore, we're committed to a coexistence strategy that is yielding very positive results. We've made this clear everywhere. However, it's important to understand that this cannot compromise our strategy of prioritizing content and the public. We want to become a content production hub with one brand, 3Cat, and at the same time, this brand must coexist with our distribution brands, which in the case of television are TV3 and others, and in the case of radio are Catalunya Ràdio and others.

But when they say "all their brands," they also mean recovering 324 and Catalunya Information. Are you considering returning them and leaving 3CatInfo only as the app's name?

— The commitment to placing news content at the center and, therefore, becoming a great newsroom is firm and we want to continue working in this direction.

Beyond the conflict over brands, the workers express their fear that the aim is to move towards a convergent model where television and radio are not produced separately, but rather a single hybrid product. Is this the case?

— Adapting to new consumption habits doesn't mean creating just one type of content, reducing staff, or cutting costs. What we want is to adapt effectively with diverse products to reach all citizens.

When 3Cat was launched two years ago, it was clear that this was just the first phase. A facelift for the old "3" on the menu, pending the complete redesign, which was supposed to arrive in the fall of 2024. They're a year behind schedule, and there's not even a date set for this second phase.

— The second phase of the platform is under development, but in parallel we've improved the first one. Relaunching the news programs has meant reordering priorities. But we expect it to be launched next spring.

A couple of weeks ago it was reported that she had already tried to implement the 3Cat proposal at the Corporation when she was an executive at the advertising agency Ogilvy, but that it was rejected at the time. Are you afraid that the brand plan will now be seen as a personal obsession?

— Everything I may have done in my past professional experience is in the past, and in any case, I have never worked alone. I have worked with teams, and therefore, there is no project submitted to the Corporation by Ms. Rosa Roma. Fortunately, the current project was developed internally by the Corporation's teams, as the management deemed it necessary. And the Governing Council unanimously supported it.

Let's talk about screens. Bestial It's a program that has generated a lot of noise, and not exactly good noise. Should TV3 have identified what was causing this backlash?

— I always say that we have to defend television directors because they are professionals with extensive experience and have been at the helm of such important shows as Crimes, Euphoria, and Tor. Sometimes, not all content appeals to everyone. And sometimes, we ourselves may have doubts about some of the content that has been chosen, but my duty is to build trust with them, share observations, and, when a show generates the kind of backlash that Bestial did, to look at how to address it and find solutions, or at least learn something.

The program has been considered an example of the trivialization into which TV3 is falling.

— TV3 is the media outlet with the most news and cultural content not only in Catalonia—where there are few public or private Catalan media outlets—but also at the national and European levels. We are a benchmark, having two prime time Once a week, on Tuesdays and Sundays, we broadcast informative content. We've not only maintained this format but strengthened it with our commitment to short documentaries, small-format films uploaded to 3Cat and YouTube, such as Punt de no retorn. Not to mention cultural spaces like So much war either Animal architectsand so many others. Coming from where we came from, where the 33 had practically closed and the organization had been left without cultural content, the commitment that has been made is very significant.

But does he argue that all the entertainment being produced is of high quality?

— Everyone has their own opinion, and I myself am entitled to mine, but we don't create content for ourselves, but rather for the public as a whole. Each piece of content serves a specific purpose. The priority is to be a tool for promoting the Catalan language in a context of declining social use. Reaching our loyal audience, who have always followed us, is just as important as reaching new audiences who, due to changing consumption habits, expect to see content that wasn't so prevalent in our country until now, but is now making a comeback, such as... sitcom.

I'm finding it a bit difficult to find a way to be self-critical. Let's try it this way: assert your right to learn from things. Explain, then, something you would do differently now over the last three years.

— I strongly believe in participatory processes. But if, as we've seen with the relaunch of news programs, the professionals haven't felt sufficiently ownership of it, then surely we should have done things differently. On the other hand, we've doubled the resources we're investing in audiovisual production, but the sector continues to ask the Corporation for a somewhat different relationship and doesn't feel adequately recognized. We'll also have to learn how to find these compromises.

And what about the coexistence of digital and traditional media?

— Perhaps we haven't explained ourselves very well. We've increased our impact on social media eightfold, but at the same time, our television presence is also growing. This was going very well for us, but a segment of the public, or a segment of the political class, doesn't see it that way. We'll need to understand why this is happening. Ultimately, the current noise is intentional, because we had been declining for ten years and nobody said anything. Now that we've suddenly increased our relevance, everyone feels the need to say something.

"It was intentional noise," he said. "By whom?"

— It's a legitimate kind of noise. Public media belongs to everyone, and therefore everyone wants to have an opinion about it. From that perspective, we welcome it. But I'm surprised by some of the attacks when the results are so good. It seems like they want things to go wrong when the data lies to them. And that's somewhat what happened this Friday in Parliament: now that we're relevant and our viewership is growing, some people are eager to attack public media because they want to find weaknesses. Or maybe it's because they can't control them. I think it's completely unfair to all the employees, who are at the forefront every day making decisions, and besides, they're practically the same people who have always been there, and their commitment to the language, the country, and democracy is undeniable.

Who are the Corporation's current enemies?

— Our current enemies are international platforms or those interested in undermining democracy. I believe this is what is harming us the most. We are in a context of widespread disinformation, which has enemies of the democratic values ​​we defend. They question the very purpose of public media, and also the promotion of the Catalan language. We know there are actors who would like us to become irrelevant or disappear. We have a great challenge ahead of us: the integration of people coming from elsewhere. Our enemies will be those who don't want this to happen: those who don't want more people in Catalonia who speak Catalan, who love the country and its values. And we often see this more outside of Catalonia, but it exists here as well.

RTVE recently launched La2 Cat. Are you worried about the competition it might pose?

— Radio Televisión Española (RTVE) is the national broadcaster that is most closely copying our strategy. We are paying close attention to the decisions they are making because we are concerned about being the leading and most relevant media outlets in Catalonia. We will have to see how they enter areas where we have traditionally been the benchmark. For example, we want to continue being the leading media outlet for major sporting events because, ultimately, football is a tool that introduces people from outside Catalonia to the Catalan language.

Buenafuente used to host a show on TV3 and has now moved to TVE. Marc Giró is also on TVE. Is there an opportunity to recruit talent from TV3?

— We operated for a decade with 30% less budget, which we've finally recovered, and we're competing in a league that's no longer just national, but global. And we're doing it with far fewer resources. This forces us to be very creative when it comes to retaining talent. If it's just about budget, they'll go to competing media outlets that can make them much more ambitious offers than ours. What would we like? For it to be with such a beloved and prestigious brand that professionals with ties to Catalonia are willing to give up some of that to be here with us.

Was the channel's brand name, La 2Cat, a low blow?

— We should ask the board members of the Spanish Radio and Television Corporation...

I ask you if you received it as a low blow.

— I insist. We should ask the members of the governing board of Ràdio Televisió Espanyola why they decided to promote a brand that could cause confusion with the brand we are creating at TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio, which is 3Cat. It is clear to us that the 2Cat brand could cause confusion, and they are entering a territory where they contribute to misinformation. However, they are free to do as they see fit, even if they had told us that 2Cat would not be used.

Relaunching Super3 was one of the top priorities of his term. After two years of spectacular growth, the linear channel's ratings have once again plummeted to record lows. The channel held a 14% share among viewers aged 4 to 12 in October 2023, and now it barely reaches 3.9%, ranking last among children's channels, while its rival Boing has climbed from 19.2% to 30.2%. What happened?

— We have decided that Super3's strategy will be primarily focused on digital consumption, because that is where consumption happens, in addition to making a complementary commitment to experiences. in situ in theaters or other experiences, such as podcasts. In the digital environment, we have doubled consumption since the relaunch and between 10% and 13% in this last year. We are talking about 60 million plays and, therefore, we are satisfied.

Does this mean dropping the linear channel?

— When we analyze children's television viewing habits, we see that it's becoming increasingly family-oriented and less childish. That's why we've opted for formats like Euphoria, either Euphoria Dance Kids on TV3.

Therefore, we must assume that the traditional channel will eventually die.

— The more screens we can have, with the resources we have, the better, since we're consuming resources through each screen. But it's true that there comes a point when, with the resources we have, we have to make decisions. When the time comes to make them, we'll make them. With the linear SX3, we have a level of consumption that's significant enough that we want to maintain it alongside our digital strategy. There will come a time when it might not be, but right now it still is.

There are time slots where audience measurement devices are already registering zero viewers. Should we assume this is because children's linear television viewing will become increasingly marginal, or should it transform into something different?

— We are exploring various options, which I cannot discuss today. If we could maintain all the current channels, we would keep them to increase viewership. However, if we ultimately decide that it's more beneficial to focus on other content that might have higher viewership, we will need to evaluate that.

The Super3 festival was a huge, free, and inclusive national event that disappeared a few years ago. Here's a great way to connect with new audiences.

— It's worrying that the Super3 party disappeared, because it was the main promotional tool the Super3 community had. Our goal is to bring it back as soon as possible: we were waiting to finalize the program contract to see what resources we had available so we could prioritize it. We'll have news soon on this matter, and it won't just be a Super3 party.

Culture remains the Cinderella of the sector. It's often mentioned in speeches, but one only needs to look at Channel 33's dwindling viewership compared to La2's to see that, beyond words, there's a lack of investment. Is there a plan to restore Channel 33 to its former strength?

— We don't have RTVE's resources, I should remind you. For two years at 3Cat, we've been building a catalog that we're now considering distributing on Channel 33 as well. We've started doing it gradually because we need to ensure we have sufficient production capacity. For example... The Renaissancewhich is a first step towards the channel's recovery. And I would like to remind everyone that we are one of the few European public broadcasters that have two cultural programs on our main channel, such as Martians and Nerve.

Can 2Cat set the standard in this case?

— On La2 Catalunya, the programs achieving acceptable audience peaks are not precisely those that premiered with the Catalan-language budget, but rather those already being produced by RTVE's La2 at the national level. And we can't compare the two networks, because RTVE's capacity is vastly greater than ours.

We're changing media outlets. How do you rate Catalunya Ràdio's audience figures?

— Unlike television, we are incredibly fortunate to have many other Catalan-language radio stations, and that changes our perspective. If we don't produce entertainment content in Catalan on TV3 and in the digital sphere, no one else will. In the case of radio, the existence of other stations in the country allows us to have thematic Catalan-language stations, for example. But this doesn't mean we don't have an obligation to grow, because public service without an audience is meaningless.

Do you ask the director of Catalunya Ràdio for leadership?

— I ask that we continue to grow and have the ambition to do things better every day.

The morning program hosted by Ricard Ustrell relies more on external production and therefore has higher direct costs than that of his predecessor, Laura Rosel. However, at the time of Rosel's departure, the show had 283,000 fewer listeners than Jordi Basté on RAC1, while in the latest EGM survey this summer... The morning of Catalunya Ràdio It increased the gap to 268,000 followers. Do you think it was a successful move?

— We believe that, within the growing consumption of Catalan-language radio, our growth rate is significant. And that we are becoming more influential.

In absolute terms, the program has not grown: 443,000 listeners when Rosel was dismissed, 429,000 in the latest EGM this July.

— These are the latest figures, but overall the trend is positive. And it's becoming a benchmark with some interviews and exclusive news stories. This justifies the radio director's investment, and we should continue to support it and see how it evolves. And we should do so with all due respect and recognition for competing media outlets, because it competes against a program like Jordi Basté's, which is a...

A ten with or without an accent?

— (Laughs) With or without an accent. He has a fantastic program, which deserves all respect, and it's a source of pride that there are such powerful private radio stations.

Well, he's very angry with the Corporation, as he explains from time to time on air.

— I don't know, artists have these things... What he's doing is great: I wish we could have signings of his caliber. That's why we grow by developing young talent and taking chances on players we believe deserve an opportunity and in whom we have faith.

She has worked for three long years with a governing council whose members were nominated by the PSC, Junts, and Esquerra, the party that nominated her. To what extent has the PSC's arrival at Palau weakened her position in the corporation, if at all?

— The council was appointed by Parliament with the consensus of three political parties, which together held the necessary majority. The project we presented to Parliament is the one we are implementing and the one that has received the full support of the council.

In an unprecedented move, both Junts councilors have publicly expressed their disagreement.

— The project we are implementing is exactly the same one we presented to the Parliament of Catalonia, which was voted for by all three political parties. Some of these parties, who are now distancing themselves, asked us if we would cut the number of employees in the Corporation, and we haven't done that. On the contrary, we've implemented a project that is precisely the opposite.

What would you like to do in the time you have left in your term?

— The news project doesn't end with the rollout we've done this September; it must continue to move forward. We must continue strengthening public media by fostering communication among ourselves, between the different newsrooms, allowing us to be more immediate and, at the same time, more in-depth. This means a new way of organizing ourselves internally and new ways of producing content.

In what sense?

— We want to have different production formats, some lighter to optimize resources, others of very high quality because we know they will be seen by a large audience, either immediately or over time. Another area we must continue working on is adapting to new job roles, including incorporating artificial intelligence and automating processes. And hopefully, we can secure a larger budget to continue acquiring sports rights.

Have you done the exercise of sizing the Corporation, ideally? That is: do we need this much money, this many people?

— We've carried out various exercises. The ideal Corporation I envision is an organization that is at the forefront of the changes that are taking place. We came from a long way back, so we're still in a transition process, trying to recapture the ambition we had 40 years ago. I believe that, ultimately, our legacy can be to recover that ambition of the founders of TV3 and Catalunya Ràdio and bring it into the present day.