Marketing
January 22, 2026
What Maria de Fátima reveals about attention culture and cross-media
From the Globo soap opera to the RD Summit stage: how simultaneity, content, and expanded narrative transform attention into a cultural phenomenon
On Friday, November 7, 2025, during RD Summit, one of the largest marketing and technology events in Latin America, a debate held on the Diálogos stage brought together Globo’s marketing director, Samantha Almeida, and journalist and television critic Chico Barney to discuss one of the most talked-about case studies (cases) of the year in the content industry: the character Maria de Fátima, from the reinterpretation of the soap opera Vale Tudo, by TV Globo. More than an analysis of dramaturgy, the conversation highlighted a central phenomenon for current marketing: the consolidation of a culture of attention based on simultaneity, participation, and real-time coordinated cross-media strategies.
The debate started from a simple, yet powerful observation: it is no longer enough to create strong characters or engaging narratives. In an environment marked by scarcity of attention, the differential lies in the ability to expand the story beyond the linear time of television, occupying the same digital spaces where the audience already is — as the content unfolds.
Key activities
The concept of attention culture stems from the understanding that, in a scenario of informational abundance, the time and focus of the public become limited resources. Herbert Simon, as early as the 1970s, already warned that “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” Contemporary authors, such as Yves Citton, deepen this logic by stating that attention is not just a cognitive resource, but a social phenomenon, shaped by technologies, platforms, and cultural practices.
In marketing and communication, this means that competing for attention is not just competing for visibility, but also for relevance, engagement, and permanence. Attention is only sustained when the content generates emotional involvement, an invitation to participate, and space for symbolic appropriation by the audience. It is in this context that cross-media strategies gain prominence.
Simultaneous orchestration
Crossmedia, as defined by authors like Henry Jenkins, is not limited to the replication of the same message across multiple channels. It involves the coordinated articulation of complementary narratives, distributed across different platforms, each exploring its specific potential. In complex media ecosystems, the strength lies not in the sum of channels, but in their coherence and simultaneity.
In the RD Summit debate, Samantha Almeida highlighted that the genius of the case Maria de Fátima lies precisely in this point: the character did not “gain a profile” on social media as a promotional extension of the soap opera. She began to exist simultaneously with the television narrative, commenting on events as the episodes aired, reacting to the audience, generating conflicts, and fueling real-time conversations.
This simultaneity transforms the viewer into an active participant, shifting the center of the narrative to a shared space.
Engagement and cultural impact
The impact of the case Maria de Fátima can be measured by objective indicators of audience, engagement and economic value, widely documented by specialized media and research institutes. According to a survey by Nexus – Pesquisa e Inteligência de Dados, the character’s profile on Instagram (@fatimaaciolireal) surpassed 262,000 followers in less than 15 days after its creation, accumulating, between April and September 2025, more than 6 million interactions (likes, comments, and shares). The study also points to monthly peaks of up to 1.5 million interactions, directly associated with key moments of the television narrative, evidencing the correlation between novel events and the public’s digital engagement (Nexus, 2025).
These numbers indicate that the narrative transcended mere on-screen presence, generating active participation and intense engagement from the audience on social media, which reinforces the idea that digital attention, when strategically captured, can be measured and impactful.
The remake of Vale Tudo was also a milestone in the commercial field. According to a report by “Meio & Mensagem”, the plot became the 9 PM soap opera with the highest commercial revenue in Globo’s history, having reached more than 141 million people by September 2025. Until that moment, 87 content activations had been registered involving 23 brands, including Itaú, Vivo, BYD, Coca-Cola, Ambev, Uber, Dove, Omo, Comfort, Amazon, Paramount, Electrolux, Ram, Boticário, L’Oréal, Hapvida, Globoads, Chilli Beans, Cimed, Abbott, Copagaz, Tintas Coral, and iFood — which corresponds to practically one commercial action for every two episodes aired, with developments that included multiplatform actions integrated into the narrative.
Furthermore, partials of the telenovela’s commercial performance showed measurable effects for advertisers:
- Electrolux’s campaign reached 20 million people on TV and 10 million on digital;
- Comfort registered 140% growth in online searches and 254% in registrations;
- Vivo stated that it had obtained more than 60% of conversions via QR Code in integrated actions.
These numbers show that, in addition to cultural engagement, Vale Tudo acted as a robust economic vehicle, an important fact for marketing and communication professionals interested in strategies that connect history, audience, and market return.
From Vivi Guedes to Maria de Fátima
Before analyzing the current impact of the case Maria de Fátima, it is important to recognize that Globo had already been testing expansion strategies in 2019 with the character Vivi Guedes, played by Paolla Oliveira in A Dona do Pedaço. At the time, the character’s profile functioned as a narrative extension and a promotional piece.
The central difference, as discussed at the RD Summit, lies in scale and coordination logic. Previously, campaigns operated with a few touchpoints: television, out of home (OOH) media, and some digital activations. Today, a strategy can involve thousands of pieces distributed across social networks, programmatic media, content creators, events, partners, and proprietary platforms.
Furthermore, there is a clear behavioral shift: 40 minutes of a soap opera are no longer enough to deepen narrative universes. There is a growing demand for immersion, context, and belonging. The audience wants to consume the content, but also wants to understand behind-the-scenes, references, symbols, and connections — almost like a process of cultural “wikipedization”.
Social listening
One of the central concepts discussed in the debate was that of social listening, understood as the systematic monitoring of audience conversations, perceptions, emotions, and behavioral patterns in digital environments. Unlike the simple measurement of engagement metrics, social listening operates as a strategic practice of interpreting social discourse, allowing brands to identify emerging meanings, cultural tensions, and public expectations in near real-time.
In the marketing and communication literature, authors such as Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) already pointed out that social media transform users into active agents of symbolic production, shifting the role of brands from broadcasters to participants in conversations. This understanding is deepened by Tuten and Solomon (2017) and Kotler, Kartajaya, and Setiawan (2021), who advocate for social listening as a basis for creative decisions, narrative adjustments, and engagement strategies in conversational ecosystems.
This logic reinforces the idea that, in environments where attention is contested, narrative sovereignty progressively migrates to the public. Listening is not just reacting, but recognizing that relevance, today, depends on the ability to dialogue with what is already being said, felt, and shared socially.
This movement is also reflected in new formats adopted by Globo, such as the launch of the microdrama Tudo por uma Segunda Chance, made available in November 2025. With short episodes designed for consumption on mobile devices (mobile), the production highlights the search for narratives adapted to the fragmented logic of contemporary attention.
The choice of Jade Picon, a figure originating from social media, reinforces this convergence between digital culture and traditional dramaturgy, expanding entry points for different audiences and platforms.
Marketing
The Maria de Fátima case reveals that effective strategies in the culture of attention require detachment from old formulas. It is not enough to replicate content, nor to rigidly control the narrative. It is necessary to accept the loss of centrality, allow appropriations, and understand that relevance is built through dialogue.
For marketers, the lesson is clear: creating content is not about producing “useful” material in an instrumental sense, but about generating symbolic experiences capable of provoking emotion, conversation, and belonging.
The success of the Maria de Fátima case lies not only in technical innovation or multiplatform presence, but also in a deep understanding of how attention works today: distributed, fragmented, participatory, and socially constructed. By articulating soap operas, social networks, offline media, and active audience listening, Globo offers a compelling example of how well-orchestrated narratives can transform into cultural phenomena.
More than a communication strategy, it is a change of mindset. In a scenario where the audience owns the narrative, the future of marketing belongs to those who understand that storytelling is, above all, about creating spaces for stories to be lived, debated, and collectively reinvented.
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Who wrote this column
Natasha Barreto de Oliveira
