The Transformation of the Ecuadorian Private Television RTU: Marketing Strategies and COVID-19

TV consumption has increased due to COVID-19 crisis. The demand of local and valuable news has been crucial for this rise. Under the premise that the pandemic crisis could have acted as a trigger for the adoption of new forms of content production and advertising formulas for many broadcaster, this paper analyzes the transformation of the Ecuadorian national private television channel RTU. The research carried out the RTU’s financial analysis of 2018, 2019 and 2020 to understand its economic situation and the consequences of the decisions and initiatives implemented in the last years. The research also carried out semi-structured interviews with the aforementioned broadcaster managers and experts in order to understand the changes fostered given the new economic, social and technical scenario. The research allows us to evidence that the linear TV is on crisis, in special among younger audiences. RTU has drastically reduced its team due to the decrease of revenue in advertising ad the unattractive content to young audiences. Having in mind this situation, RTU is encouraging innovation on human resources management, revenue streams (digital advertising formats), distribution platforms (social network) and products/content adapted to society demands such as short videos, influencers, interaction and feedback.