The former chief of ZenithOptimedia, Jakub Potrzebowski, hopes to make a stir on Poland’s mass media market with his plan to merge some of the local media houses to begin competing with the major player for his share of the market. “The market can no longer concentrate on the large media groups,” says Jakub Potrzebowski, who seeks a balance between the giants and the local companies. The scenario has not changed for years, with the smaller companies unable to compete with the networked media houses for the king-size advertising budgets.
“The market does need to consolidate, but there are a lot of conflicting interests in this environment”, says Zbigniew Badziak, former chief of advertising agency in Polish public TV. ”In most cases, the head of the local company and its owner is the same person, and they want to keep control over the business and standardize the prices”, he adds.
