Grupo RBS

Grupo RBS is a Brazilian media conglomerate founded in Porto Alegre on August 31, 1957, by Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho. The group developed into one of Brazil's largest regional communication companies, with its strongest presence in the southern states of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Its operating portfolio has historically combined broadcast television, radio, newspapers, digital media, publishing, events, printing, executive education, music and logistics. The group's best-known broadcast asset is RBS TV, a network of television stations affiliated with Rede Globo. The television operation has served audiences across southern Brazil through a combination of national programming supplied by Globo and locally produced journalism, entertainment and regional content. Grupo RBS has also operated local television services including TVCOM Florianópolis and OCTO OC in Porto Alegre. Radio has been another central part of the group. Its portfolio has included Rádio Gaúcha, Rádio Atlântida, Rádio Itapema, Rádio Cidade, Rádio Farroupilha, Rádio CBN Porto Alegre, Rádio CBN Diário and Rádio Rural, together with related network and local stations. These brands have covered news, sports, music, talk programming and general entertainment across markets in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. Grupo RBS has also owned and operated an important newspaper portfolio. Titles associated with the group have included Zero Hora, Diário Gaúcho, Pioneiro, Diário de Santa Maria, Diário Catarinense, Hora de Santa Catarina, Jornal de Santa Catarina and A Notícia. Together, these publications have provided metropolitan, statewide and regional reporting, with a particular emphasis on southern Brazilian communities. The group has extended this publishing activity through online news portals and digital products. Its digital activities have included the e.Bricks Digital platform and technology-oriented businesses serving digital media, mobile services and specialized electronic commerce. Other digital brands and ventures associated with the group have included clicRBS, hagah, Predicta, ObaOba, Pense Imóveis, Pense Carros, Pense Empregos, Guia da Semana, Grupo .Mobi, Wine Vinhos, Lets, Vitrinepix and Hi-Mídia. The exact composition of this portfolio has changed over time as digital businesses and investment priorities evolved. Beyond core media, Grupo RBS has operated or supported a range of complementary businesses and institutions. These have included HSM, an executive education, media and events company; Kzuka, a youth-oriented communication operation; RBS Publicações, a book publisher; Orbeat Music, a record company; Mídia Gráfica, a printing operation; and Vialog, a logistics company. The Fundação Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho has provided a social-investment and community-development arm connected with the group's founder and institutional activities. A notable feature of Grupo RBS has been its use of multiple media platforms for nonprofit institutional campaigns. These initiatives have addressed road safety, child and youth protection, education and prevention of crack-cocaine abuse. Campaigns have generally combined editorial coverage, advertising inventory and community mobilization rather than functioning as conventional commercial product advertising. Through this model, the group has positioned itself not only as a media operator but also as a regional institution involved in public-interest debates. Grupo RBS is therefore best classified as a corporate media brand rather than a logistics company. Although Vialog has been associated with its wider portfolio, logistics is a peripheral activity compared with the group's principal businesses in television, radio, newspapers and digital content. Public reference material identifies the group as having employed more than 6,000 people and as one of Brazil's largest employers of journalists, although a current consolidated workforce figure is not established here.

Grupo RBS was established in Porto Alegre on August 31, 1957, by Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho. From its origins as a regional communications enterprise, it expanded across the principal media formats of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries: television, radio and newspapers. This expansion created a vertically and horizontally integrated media group capable of producing, distributing and promoting content through several channels at once. Television became one of the group's defining activities through RBS TV, a network of stations affiliated with Rede Globo. The affiliation gave the group access to Globo's national programming while allowing it to maintain a substantial local and regional news operation. Grupo RBS also developed local television services, including TVCOM Florianópolis and OCTO OC Porto Alegre, extending its presence beyond the main Globo-affiliated network. Radio formed a second major pillar. The group assembled a portfolio spanning news, talk, sports, music and general programming. Rádio Gaúcha became associated with journalism and sports coverage, while Rádio Atlântida served music-oriented audiences across a network of southern Brazilian stations. Other brands, including Itapema, Farroupilha, Rural and CBN operations in Porto Alegre and Florianópolis, helped the group reach distinct demographic and geographic segments. The newspaper business reinforced Grupo RBS's regional influence. Its portfolio included major titles such as Zero Hora and Diário Catarinense, as well as metropolitan and local publications including Diário Gaúcho, Pioneiro, Diário de Santa Maria, Hora de Santa Catarina, Jornal de Santa Catarina and A Notícia. These titles gave the group a substantial role in political, economic and civic journalism in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. The newspaper operation was later complemented by online portals and digital products associated with the group's broader internet strategy. As audiences moved toward the internet and mobile devices, Grupo RBS developed digital operations through e.Bricks Digital and a collection of technology, media and specialized-commerce ventures. Brands associated with this phase included clicRBS, hagah, Predicta, ObaOba, real-estate and employment portals, and other vertical services. These activities reflected an attempt to extend the group's audience, advertising and transaction capabilities beyond traditional publishing and broadcasting. The wider corporate portfolio also included businesses outside the core editorial and broadcasting operations. HSM operated in executive education, business media and events. Kzuka focused on younger audiences. RBS Publicações entered book publishing, Orbeat Music operated in recorded music, and Mídia Gráfica represented printing capabilities. Vialog provided logistics services. The Fundação Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho served as an institutional vehicle for social investment and community initiatives. Institutional campaigns became a long-running component of Grupo RBS's public identity. These campaigns used the group's television, radio, newspaper and digital channels to raise awareness of social issues. Their structure commonly combined newsroom attention, donated or allocated advertising space, and partnerships with government bodies, civic organizations and communities. Topics cited in reference material include road safety, child protection, education and prevention of crack-cocaine abuse. In June 2003, the group launched “Love is the Best Inheritance, Take Care of the Kids,” a child- and youth-protection campaign using symbolic monster characters to communicate the risks faced by children and the importance of collective care. In 2011, Grupo RBS partnered with Brazil's National Council of Justice in the nationwide airing of “Crack, Nem Pensar,” a drug-abuse-prevention initiative. The campaign was also associated with the creation of the Crack, Nem Pensar Institute in Porto Alegre. In 2012, the group launched “Education Needs Answers,” a broad initiative focused on improving primary education, especially in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, in cooperation with the Fundação Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho. The available reference material describes Grupo RBS as a large regional communications company with more than 6,000 employees and a particularly large journalistic workforce. It does not establish a complete current ownership structure, executive roster, financial profile or definitive status for every historical subsidiary and digital brand. Accordingly, this dossier treats the group as an active Brazilian media conglomerate while leaving unsupported corporate and leadership details unspecified.

• 2012

  Education Needs Answers campaign

  [1]Grupo RBSen.wikipedia.org

  Grupo RBS introduced a multimedia education campaign designed to stimulate debate and community action around improving primary education in southern Brazil.

• 2011

  Nationwide crack-prevention campaign partnership

  [1]Grupo RBSen.wikipedia.org

  The group partnered with Brazil's National Council of Justice to distribute the “Crack, Nem Pensar” prevention campaign nationwide and supported the related institute in Porto Alegre.

• 2003

  Launch of the child-protection campaign

  [1]Grupo RBSen.wikipedia.org

  Grupo RBS launched “Love is the Best Inheritance, Take Care of the Kids,” a multimedia institutional campaign promoting social responsibility for children and adolescents.

• 1957

  Grupo RBS is founded

  [1]Grupo RBSen.wikipedia.org

  Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho founded Grupo RBS in Porto Alegre on August 31, establishing the company that would become a major southern Brazilian communications group.

A southern Brazilian multimedia group combining mass-reach broadcasting, regional journalism, newspapers, digital media and community-oriented institutional initiatives.

• Television broadcasting

  RBS TV

  A network of television stations affiliated with Rede Globo, combining Globo programming with locally produced journalism, entertainment and regional content for audiences in southern Brazil.

• Radio broadcasting

  Radio portfolio

  A collection of radio brands and stations including Rádio Gaúcha, Rádio Atlântida, Rádio Itapema, Rádio Farroupilha, Rádio Rural and CBN operations. The portfolio has covered news, sports, talk, music and local programming across Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina.

• Newspaper publishing

  Newspaper portfolio

  Regional and metropolitan newspapers associated with the group have included Zero Hora, Diário Gaúcho, Pioneiro, Diário de Santa Maria, Diário Catarinense, Hora de Santa Catarina, Jornal de Santa Catarina and A Notícia.

• Digital media and technology

  e.Bricks Digital

  A digital business platform associated with Grupo RBS's technology, online-media, mobile and specialized-commerce activities. Related ventures have included news, advertising, local information and vertical marketplace services.

• Logistics

  Vialog

  A logistics company listed among Grupo RBS's additional business activities. Logistics is a peripheral activity in the group's overall portfolio, whose principal operations are media and communications.

• 2012Education Needs Answers

  Rio Grande do Sul · Santa Catarina · Brazil

  A broad social-awareness and community-engagement program focused on improving primary education. Grupo RBS combined editorial coverage, advertising and institutional activities, working with the Fundação Maurício Sirotsky Sobrinho.

  Outcome. The initiative placed education at the center of the group's social-investment agenda and was planned for a further phase in 2013.

  Source
• 2011Crack, Nem Pensar

  Brazil

  A drug-abuse-prevention campaign disseminated by Grupo RBS in partnership with Brazil's National Council of Justice. The initiative used the group's multimedia reach to promote awareness of the harms associated with crack cocaine.

  Outcome. The campaign was aired nationwide and was linked to the establishment of the Crack, Nem Pensar Institute in Porto Alegre.

  Source
• 2003Love is the Best Inheritance, Take Care of the Kids

  Brazil · Rio Grande do Sul · Santa Catarina

  A nonprofit institutional campaign emphasizing society's responsibility to protect children and adolescents. It used television, radio, newspapers and other group platforms, along with a set of friendly monster characters representing threats to children.

  Outcome. The campaign became one of Grupo RBS's signature public-interest initiatives and continued as a recognizable part of its institutional communications.

  Source

1. 1Grupo RBSen.wikipedia.org