Lenka Hrivnáková, Author at The Association of Commercial Television

VOYO IS DOING FUNDAMENTALLY BETTER THAN WE PLANNED. ORDINACE IS STILL THE DRIVING FORCE, SAYS DANIEL GRUNT OF CME

Daniel Grunt returned to CME a year ago as head of digital activities. His task was to secure one million subscribers for Voyo within five years. How’s it going?

There was no escaping that campaign. In the spring, Nova TV paid for billboards in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to promote its Voyo paid internet video library. No sooner had one campaign ended than another began – this time promoting a particular show, the miniseries Iveta. The three-part dramatic series about the early years of singer Iveta Bartosova’s career has become one of the most successful shows Voyo offers.

Voyo calls similar shows made just for Voyo the Voyo Original. They include the miniseries The Případ Roubal and Guru, the comedy series Národní házená, and the current premiere of Jitřní záře, a gripping story about an alternative family that wants to name a child according to their own rules. Coming up in the fall are Král Šumavy and the comedy novelty Guma.

“All the Voyo Originals are working extremely well for us. But the backbone is still Ordinace v růžové zahradě. The fact that we dared to flip it in the fall of 2021 from a linear broadcast, where it was still doing 900,000 to a million viewers on one broadcast day, helped us. It showed the market that we were serious. The series hasn’t gone down in quality, length or cast, it’s still the same. Rather, it has caught a second wind,” says Daniel Grunt, CME’s Chief Digital Officer.

It’s a testament to the strength of the series Ordinace that, unlike other series, it doesn’t take the usual summer break. Instead, it will launch a new sequel every week.

How to determine success

While Nova keeps track of how many viewers have watched a particular show, the more important metric is the number of subscribers gained. The total number of subscribers comfortably surpassed the 350,000 mark in the spring. The broadcaster will not publish more precise figures, as no video library on the market publishes similar business data. However, subscribers are growing faster than Nova itself expected.

“We are doing fundamentally better than we planned and dreamed. But we are not accelerating production plans because the ones originally announced were ambitious themselves,”

Grunt points out.

CME’s management’s mission is clear: to acquire one million paying users in the Czech and Slovak markets by 2026. So far, it looks like a realistic task. “But there is a huge question mark about what the economy will look like next year or in two years,” reminds the head of CME’s digital activities. Coincidentally, recently published surveys suggest that Czech households will start cutting back on culture, entertainment and other leisure activities.

In addition to how many people have paid for access to Voyo, TV stations are also interested in average viewing time. On average, users now spend 12 hours a week watching shows. Nova commissions various surveys that show Voyo has the highest proportion of users who watch daily or several times a week compared to competing services. Typical users are households of people in their thirties and forties, and Voyo has a greater representation of women compared to linear TV.

Betting on localism

No local service will ever have the budget of the global players. The annual investment by Netflix or Walt Disney in content production is in the tens of billions of dollars. Even if all the TV stations in the Czech market put their production budgets together, they wouldn’t pay the equivalent of one American series. That’s why Voyo highlights local themes, popular local actors and a wide library of domestic cinema. It has about 750 Czech films on offer.

However, the arrival of Disney+, HBO Max and other global apps on the Czech market also presents a complication when buying content from abroad. The biggest hits are jealously guarded by American production studios, who want to have exclusive films and series on their own platforms.

“So we are reaching out a little bit differently than the American film studios. For example, Scandinavian crime films work very well for us. We have quite a lot of interesting series from the UK, from the BBC and ITV. That’s something that works here, so we’ll keep going after interesting European work,”

Grunt hints at a buying strategy.

“In all the countries where CME operates, we want to be the strongest local service of first choice for people who want to watch quality local content. Whether it’s movies, series, or some shows, reality shows, whatever else. That’s the place we want to occupy in the market,” he explains.

“The biggest focus and investment at CME is on Voyo. It is the backbone of the entire digital transformation of CME in all the countries where we operate. Voyo cuts across the structure of TV stations, basically almost all teams. Then it automatically transforms the whole company,” Grunt continues. “Voyo may have been around for 11 years, but it went through waves where it was a priority, then again it wasn’t, it was in a drawer and AVOD – a free archive of shows with video advertising – was being pushed. With the arrival of a new owner, it’s become a key priority for the group again,” he explains.

Voyo has a different position in Slovenia, where they have developed paid content all the time, while they don’t have a free archive with ads at all. “Slovenia is very much a pay-TV market, they monetise all long-form content through Voyo. It’s a small market with two million inhabitants, but they developed Voyo and grew continuously. In all other markets, the Voyo curve was flat for a long time, it didn’t move for maybe ten years,” recalls the director of digital activities.

In the Czech Republic, Voyo’s development has been very fast. “We are still learning. As it grows quickly under our hands, we often forget to realise that we have only been working on it for a little over a year,” concludes Daniel Grunt. CME wants to use the experience gained for other markets.

Source: lupa.cz

MEDIA INVESTMENTS WERE HIGHER IN MAY, BUT GROWTH SLOWED DOWN

Year-on-year growth in advertising investment in media continued in May, but was lower than in the previous month.

The monitored volume of advertising investment in media reached a 7% year-on-year increase in May this year. This also marks the fifth month this year that the advertising market has improved, according to Ad Intel data from Nielsen Admosphere. However, compared to April, which showed an increase of almost a quarter (+23%), May’s growth is lower. This may be related to last spring’s relaxation of anti-video measures and the associated noticeable increase in ad investment.

For the first five months of this year, the year-on-year increase in monitored advertising investment is 13%, with the strongest growth in outdoor advertising (+40%), followed by radio (+21%). Television advertising remains the strongest.

Source: mediaguru.cz

Investment in internet advertising is not included in the reported overview, as the monitoring only covers display advertising.

Again, we remind you that the volumes monitored do not reflect the actual volumes invested in media advertising, but describe the trend.

Source: mediaguru.cz

HBBTV SYMPOSIUM AND AWARDS 2022: CALL FOR SPEAKERS

The 10th HbbTV Symposium and Awards on November 9-10, 2022 in Prague, Czech Republic, will provide a unique platform to present and discuss the latest developments in the connected TV industry. The HbbTV Association, which co-hosts the in-person event with the Czech Association of Commercial Television (AKTV), is inviting industry executives and experts to address the top-level audience as speakers in the conference programme.

“This year’s HbbTV Symposium and Awards will, as always, provide important insights into the future of the broadcast and broadband industry. Your thoughts on current developments, new products and services and future trends are important to us. I would therefore like to encourage you to take part in the Call for Speakers and share your proposals for contributions with us,” said Vincent Grivet, Chair of the HbbTV Association.

The HbbTV Symposium 2022 is open for speakers on the following topics, particularly when supported by experiences gained from providing live services. The submission of additional topics will also be considered.

Reviews of new and existing HbbTV deployments in different markets and countries.
Using hybrid broadcast and broadband to improve viewers’ choice and experience from the perspectives of:
– Consumers and/or consumer organisations
– TV and other device manufacturers (e.g. supporting multiscreen services, companion/second screen)
– Operators and Service Providers
– Broadcasters (both public service and commercial)
– Regulators, National governments and/or European organisations
Advertising and other means of monetizing the hybrid approach to television (e.g. addressable TV ads):

– Targeted Advertising (TA): Broadcast ad substitution
Client-side and server-side substitution
Watermarking-based substitution
– Targeted Advertising: implementations, use case examples,
experiences, future developments, challenges
– Benefits of standards-based TA (opposed to proprietary
solutions)

HbbTV Operator Application (HbbTV OpApp):
– Explanation, implementations, best practices, specification updates
– New deployments
Experiences in promoting and marketing HbbTV:
– From a technology perspective
– From a Business Development perspective
GDPR & ePrivacy – experiences in an HbbTV-enabled world:
– Audience measurements, viewer behaviour and other in GDPR compliance
– Asking for and obtaining consent in the context of a TV set
– Cookies and their successors
Content Media Security, rights management and content protection in hybrid TV services:
– DRM and HbbTV (e.g. examples, services, solutions)

HbbTV best practices:
– OTT, on demand/catch-up streaming services
– Companion screen applications
– Voice-Control with HbbTV
– 360° VR – increase viewer engagement
– Experiences with Operator Application
– Content discovery services
– Accessibility (Spoken subtitles, Audio descriptions, Sign language)

Delivering advanced viewing experiences including:

– Ultra-High Definition
– High-Dynamic Range
– Next Generation Audio
– Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality/AI

Cutting edge innovations and technology in the deployment of HbbTV-enabled services and devices.
Tools and techniques for developing and testing HbbTV applications and services.
HbbTV and other standards. For example:
– 3GPP 5G Technology/5G Broadcast
– DVB-I: role/involvement of HbbTV, new specifications
– IP-Broadcasting (e.g. DVB Native IP)
– ATSC 3.0 watermarking
HbbTV Conformance Regimes: why it is needed, country best practices, implementation, stakeholder education
Update from US market, e.g. inspiration for European market: ATSC 3 datacast applications, new applications, trends (local news, education)
Inside HbbTV: how the organisation works, Working Groups, Task Forces, participation, involvement, benefits of membership
The future for HbbTV: market trends and future directions
Building a better HbbTV ecosystem: thoughts and ideas on how the HbbTV Association in cooperation with members and market players could foster a more efficient HbbTV ecosystem
Lessons learned by service providers in deploying HbbTV services and doing business with HbbTV. What could be improved?

If you would like to speak at the HbbTV Symposium 2022, you are welcome to send us an outline of your proposed presentation through this online form by July 15, 2022. Please provide the title, an abstract (max. 200 words), a speaker’s biography (max. 150 words) and a speaker’s photo.

The HbbTV Symposium and Awards 2022 targets platform operators, broadcasters, advertisers and adtechs, standards organisations and technology companies, offering first-hand insights into the latest and most innovative services available to viewers, operators and advertisers.

The annual key summit of the connected TV industry will take place at the National house of Vinohrady. The prestigious neo-renaissance building, centrally located in Prague, will provide a first-class base for conference attendees, sponsors and networking.

Details on the sponsoring packages at the HbbTV Symposium and Awards 2022 and the preceding preview and demo events can be found in the Call for Sponsors.

Contact HbbTV Association:
Angelo Pettazzi
Chair HbbTV Marketing and Education Working Group (MEWG)
email: angelo.pettazzi@kineton.it
Tel: +39 02 2514 8355

Press Contact:
Thomas Fuchs
Fuchs Media Consult GmbH
email: tfuchs@fuchsmc.com
Tel: +49 171 4483 168

MONITORING: ADVERTISING INVESTMENTS IN MEDIA ARE GROWING RAPIDLY THIS YEAR

Monitored media advertising investments grew by almost a quarter year-on-year in April. Then for the first four months of 2022 they were up 15 percent, Nielsen Admosphere monitoring shows.

Total monitored advertising investments in the media for the first four months of this year are up 15 percent year-on-year, according to AdIntel’s monitoring by Nielsen Admosphere. Their total gross volume exceeded CZK 30.5 billion for the period. The most significant increase in monitored advertising investments in the media was in April this year, when they showed a 23% growth.

Last year, the covid-19 pandemic knocked down advertising spending mainly in outdoor advertising, which is now the media type with the highest year-on-year growth in April (+77%). Radio (+35%) and television (+22%) also posted high increases in April, while the volume of investments in print also increased by double digits (+15%), according to the monitoring.

Thus, the monitoring data for the first four months of 2022 do not even suggest a slowdown or decline in investment in connection with the war in Ukraine, as some representatives of media operators have pointed out.

Comparison of price list value of advertising space January – April 2022 Comparison of total value of advertising space (Media type – TV, Print, Radio, OOH)

The Internet is not included in the overview because the monitoring of advertising investments only covers display advertising and video advertising and thus does not include all forms of Internet advertising. However, according to AdMonitoring data for the first quarter of this year, growth is registered in this media type as well, especially in programmatic display advertising.

Again, we would like to remind you that the data from the investment monitoring does not reflect the actual financial volume devoted to the purchase of advertising time and space. They are primarily an indicator of the development trend.

Source: mediaguru.cz

ASSOCIATION OF COMMERCIAL TELEVISION CELEBRATES FIVE YEARS AND BRINGS A LOT OF NEWS

This spring marks the fifth anniversary of the Association of Commercial Television whose founding members are the Nova, Prima and Óčko TV groups. During its existence, AKTV has been actively involved in the TV industry and legislative processes and has become a respected stakeholder. To support its marketing activities, it has launched a B2B brand and industry website ScreenVoice, and on the occasion of its 5th anniversary, its visual identity has been refreshed.

The Association of Commercial Television has completed its first five years of successful operation. At its inception, it set itself two main objectives, namely to raise awareness when promoting TV media and to actively engage in the legislative processes affecting TV broadcasters.

In the course of its existence, AKTV has hosted a number of major industry conferences featuring the world’s leading marketing and advertising experts. The most famous names that AKTV has brought to Prague undoubtedly include Mark Ritson, Les Binet, Karen Nelson-Field and Wiemer Snijders. After a Covid-19 break, AKTV held its first conference under the auspices of its newly launched B2B brand ScreenVoice last year. ScreenVoice aims at covering the entire world of television, TV advertising and total video.

“ScreenVoice is the new umbrella for our activities to promote total video and TV as an advertising medium. Under ScreenVoice, we will continue to organise exceptional industry conferences, and this year for the first time, we will conduct our original qualitative research, which is an activity we have only known from our foreign colleagues,“

says Jan Vlček, President of AKTV and CEO of TV Nova.

On the ScreenVoice.cz website, readers will find inspiration, trends, research and news about what is happening in the TV world in the Czech Republic and abroad. Each month is dedicated to one topic, for which original content is prepared. Readers can expect a magazine reading about the first ever TV advertisement, a Christmas or Valentine’s Day ad special, or a reflection on advertising during the Covid-19 period or the war in Ukraine. The topic of the month is complemented by a calendar of industry events, a glossary of terms from the world of total video, or the popular Myths and Facts about TV section, which provides a range of data to debunk the most common myths about TV. A separate category is the archive of AKTV events, where people can find all the recordings of speeches and speakers’ presentations from the last five years.

AKTV’s visual identity has also been refreshed and now it uses the same colour scheme as ScreenVoice. The content of the two websites is different. ScreenVoice primarily targets advertising professionals and those interested in the world of total video, while AKTV focuses on the legislative and regulatory aspects of the broadcasters’ business.

About the Association of Commercial Television

The Association of Commercial Television (AKTV) represents the leading commercial broadcasters in the Czech Republic. Its goal is to defend, support and promote their common interests.

AKTV is actively involved in the preparation of national and European legislation relating to commercial TV broadcasting, personal data protection, journalistic work and commercial communication. It is a partner for government authorities, EU institutions and other stakeholders. One of AKTV’s main activities is to protect the copyright of its members and to fight against online piracy.

In addition, AKTV is active in promoting TV as an advertising medium. For communication with advertisers and media agencies, it operates its information website ScreenVoice.cz and regularly organises industry conferences.

PRIMA WILL START AUCTIONING OFF PART OF THE SPACE NEXT YEAR

The Prima Group is trying to counter the expected outflow of advertising GRPs in linear TV and will introduce auction sales for part of its advertising space from 2023, following restrictions on rewind advertising in IPTV. And it is already announcing price increases.

The Prima Group and its media agency Media Club will come up with a novelty in selling advertising space from 2023. Following efforts to cope with the expected outflow of advertising GRPs in linear TV, it will introduce auction sales for part of its advertising space after limiting rewind advertising in IPTV. Clients with the lowest CPP will fall into it, Prima’s commercial director Vladimir Pořízek described in an interview.

At the AdCross tool presentation, you described trends in video content viewership, predicting a decline in linear TV and an increase in video-on-demand (VOD) viewership. Specifically, how do you estimate that linear TV viewership may evolve in 2022 and next year in 2023, and what trends do you expect more specifically for VOD?

According to the numbers, we can see that linear TV viewership grew until 2017, then stagnated for a year and has been declining since 2019, also due to the large number of VOD services on the market. This decline was halted by the covid-19 pandemic, when people stayed at home and watched TV. After people returned to normal life, this decline started to show again. For the number of GRPs available in the market, the situation is even more complicated because the ad-skipping capability of IPTV operators takes away a lot of free space to air ads.

We expect the decline of linear TV to continue in the future. Firstly, the number of VOD services will grow – Disney+, Amazon Prime are due to come to our market this year alone, and there will be a joint service between Discovery+ and Warner Bross. And there will also be a growing trend towards watching TV via IPTV operators with delayed viewing services. In Sweden, for example, linear TV now accounts for only 50% of all video viewing.

How much might the number of TV GRPs decrease this year and next as a result of these changes?

Our expectations are somewhere around 3% in the 15-69 target group and 5% in the 15-54 group per year, but these are rather optimistic expectations. We’ve seen much bigger and faster inventory declines around the world, and that was when there weren’t as many VOD services in the market and there wasn’t as fast internet.

What will this mean for Prima as an important player in the commercial TV market? How will you respond to this?

We have been watching this trend for a long time and preparing for it for no less time. Leaving aside the inevitable price increases, one of the next “steps” is the cross-platform metering we introduced this year. It may not make up for all the lost inventory, but we firmly believe that eGRPs will increase and at least partially limit the decline.

So do you expect to see further increases in TV advertising prices? Since when and by how much?

That will be a reality in a declining market, unfortunately. The only question is how much prices will rise and how these price increases will happen. Many clients are convinced that tenders will always bring the price down. They often hear this from their advisors – media auditors. But this fact may have been true in a market where the media space was not sold out. This year, unfortunately, we had to turn down a few long-term clients who had a low price and listened to their advisors’ voices that they should insist on these, for us, no longer feasible conditions… So they ended up with a competitor, but at a much higher price… More than a third of our inflation this year is driven by the fact that we are limiting clients with low CPP. Then for next year, we are preparing another innovation, and that is making deals involving auction principles in the normal negotiation.

What exactly does this mean? Does it mean that you will sell the space at auction?

Yes, we will, but not all of it. We will be selling most of the space in a similar way as before. We do intend to sell the last remnants of our inventory to the lowest bidding clients by auction.

“Price growth will already be a reality in a declining market. The only question is how much prices will rise and how this price increase will happen.”

So what will it look like?

Our negotiations will be divided into several phases. The first phase is called the “preliminary round”. In this preliminary phase, all our clients can ask us for an offer. If they like the offer and take advantage of it, the deal is already done. In the second phase, the standard negotiation as clients and agencies know it takes place, with the only difference that the deal is closed not only by both parties agreeing on the price, but also another condition must be met. This condition is the profitability for the Media Club or TV group. This second phase is divided into several rounds and only a limited number of deals are concluded in each round. Which deal is concluded and in which round is then determined by the profitability for the TV group, which is determined by both the CPP and the volume. The higher the CPP, the better for Media Club/TV, and of course the higher the guarantee, the better for Media Club/TV. Usually, however, clients want a lower CPP for a higher guarantee. So this balance is a delicate thing. The last stage is then the actual auction, which is where the clients with the lowest CPP will fall. But even this stage is limited by space, so some clients may not be reached at all. This should motivate clients to close their deal in the preliminary stage or increase their CPP in the auction.

Do you really believe this will work?

Of course, it will only work if there is an overhang of client demand over TV supply, which is very difficult to predict these days. Nobody knows what will happen next. Will there be a recession? How quickly? For how long?

But we are counting on all possibilities. If there is no excess demand, we always have the option to sell the space without an auction and accept all clients. But even that would only be a matter of a year. With the decline in GRPs that we expect, the demand must necessarily climb back above the supply within one to two years at most.

“Clients with the lowest CPP will fall into the last phase of the auction. But even this phase is limited by space and so some clients may not be reached at all.”

Which type of video on demand (AVOD, SVOD, TVOD) will develop most dynamically on the Czech market and how will the development of the SVOD market be affected by the arrival of foreign players this year?

I think neither. Until now, we have been fed by advertising, so I hope that it will be the so-called HVOD models, i.e. models where clients pay a certain amount for a premium VOD service, but the amount is much less than the usual amount, because viewers are served a limited amount of advertising in addition to exclusive content. As the number of VOD services increases, so will the willingness of viewers to migrate between services. It’s a trend we’re seeing across platforms. The vast majority of viewers take the opportunity to pay for a service, test it for three months and then perhaps cancel it again. That’s why we see the hybrid model as an appropriate solution for our market. Viewers can minimize the fee and retain multiple services. According to many market surveys, more than 75% of viewers perceive advertising as payment for services and are therefore comfortable with it. Moreover, even Netflix has already announced that it will introduce this service model.

Prima also wants to enter the SVOD field this year. Do you already know whether you will sell advertising as part of your SVOD service and what monetization model will you choose?

I believe in the freedom of choice for users, so I hope we will offer all models of content monetisation. But we haven’t reached a final decision yet.

From June, there should also be an announced plan to limit ad skipping in back-viewing for IPTV operators. Last year, you reported that you lost 30,000 GRPs due to the skipping option. How many GRPs can you “save” with this move?

Our main motivation for having to take this step was to prevent further GRP loss, as the trend of GRPs starting to decline was exponential rather than linear. With the growing share of IPTV operators in the distribution of our channels and the growing share of deferred viewing/back-viewing, we simply wouldn’t have anything to sell in a couple of years. The second question is whether we will add any GRPs. I firmly believe that a smaller portion of our inventory will even come back. But we really don’t expect any big numbers.

Prima is talking about a total video strategy for the coming years. Can you give an indication of what the distribution of Prima’s trading inventory will look like for next year and how the trading will be distributed between linear TV, delayed TV or different types of video-on-demand?

We currently have about 3% of our viewership in online inventory, but we only use about 1% on average for eGRPs. The rest we sell on impression as standard. Deferred viewing is currently around 14% and we expect to see growth there in the future. Given that operators have a choice of how to limit ad rollover – for example, by shortening the ad block or replacing linear advertising with online advertising – it will be difficult to predict whether deferred or online inventory will grow faster. But as I said, the classic linear one is definitely not going to grow.

“Our goal is for the online inventory, that we use for eGRPs, to grow at least 1.5% every year. We would like to have at least 10% of inventory in online within five years.”

How will these changes be reflected in the inventory supply in about five years?

Our goal is for the online inventory we use for eGRPs to grow by at least 1.5% each year. We would like to have at least ten percent of inventory online within five years, where we can better reach users with advertising, adjust frequency and, most importantly, substantially improve the affinity of our clients’ campaigns through targeting.

Vladimír Pořízek, Commercial Director, Prima Group

Vladimír Pořízek worked at Prima Television for almost five years as CFO until 2012, after which he headed the buying association Opera of the Omnicom Media Group. In 2014, he returned to Prima as Chief Operating Officer and was later appointed Commercial Director. Before joining Prima, he was CFO of media agency PHD until 2007.

Source: mediaguru.cz

MEDIA FREEDOM DAY & MEDIA FREEDOM ACT: WHAT FREEDOM LOOKS LIKE TO EUROPE’S MEDIA

Today, broadcasters and streaming services around Europe celebrate Media Freedom Day[1]. As the European Commission drafts the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), ACT, ABBRO, ACCeS, AKTV, ARCA, CRTV, UTECA and VÖP recall common principles to safeguard media pluralism, independence and sustainability. Any new regulations impacting audio-visual media should be assessed in light of general principles, such as media sustainability, to avoid regulatory conflicts and lack of coherence that negatively impact the media landscape. The EMFA should be an opportunity to develop a more holistic approach to media pluralism.

Europe’s diversity means an EMFA based on subsidiarity, focusing on principles that are not intrusive. Any restrictions should be objectively justified, transparent, non-discriminatory, and proportionate to protect media freedom in Europe.
EMFA should support the growth of European TV & VoD and in no way hinder it with anti-consolidation policies. Measures aimed at restricting the consolidation capacities of European broadcasters, or preventing the sector from innovating, scaling up and seeking new sources of revenues, would ultimately limit European media pluralism and reinforce the dominance of big tech companies that do not invest in European media.
Help the sector diversify and grow by revisiting & limiting intrusive and outdated rules for media. Focus where cultural diversity and investment is most at risk, notably by increasing scrutiny of Big Tech media acquisitions affecting pluralism.
Existing rules for the audio-visual sector should be applied proportionately. Additional minimum requirements at EU level which would have the potential of adding greater compliance costs to an already overly burdensome framework (eg AVMSD) should be avoided.
Measures to ensure the visibility of AVMS providers’ news and content are necessary. Content must be protected from interferences by big tech companies.
Independent audience measurement is key. Players subject to different regulatory regimes should not be included in the same “audience measurement basket” but instead be measured with separate but comparable currencies.
Transparency of media ownership and state advertising is welcome. This could be useful particularly in light of the specific situation in some Member States.
A reinforced role for ERGA. The MFA should seek to make the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) fully independent, staffed up and financed for a growing list of activities.

On this day of celebration, we are reminded that media freedom, pluralism and democracy require constant vigilance and support. Even in Europe, some authorities routinely interfere with media companies’ activities, their editorial independence and freedom to operate. The primary goal of the European Media Freedom Act must be to curtail unjustified restrictions by public authorities. We must however avoid that the measures in the EMFA end up limiting our ability to grow and compete in an environment where Big Tech continues to enjoy asymmetric rules and undermines the foundations of media pluralism.

ACT – ASSOCIATION OF COMMERCIAL TELEVISION & VIDEO ON DEMAND SERVICES IN EUROPE

ABBRO – ASSOCIATION OF BULGARIAN BROADCASTERS

ACCeS – ASSOCIATION DES CHAÎNES CONVENTIONNÉES ÉDITRICES DE SERVICES

ARCA – ROMANIAN ASSOCIATION FOR AUDIOVISUAL COMMUNICATIONS

AKTV – ASOCIACE KOMERČNÍCH TELEVIZÍ

CRTV – CONFINDUSTRIA RADIO TELEVISIONI

UTECA – UNIÓN TELEVISIONES COMERCIALES EN ABIERTO

VÖP – ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRIAN COMMERCIAL BROADCASTERS

—

ABOUT THE SIGNATORIES:

ASSOCIATION OF COMMERCIAL TELEVISION & VIDEO ON DEMAND SERVICES IN EUROPE (ACT)

ACT’s 29 member companies finance, produce, promote and distribute content and services benefiting millions of Europeans across all platforms. At ACT we believe that the healthy and sustainable commercial broadcasting sector has an important role to play in Europe’s economy, society and cultures. Commercial broadcasters are at the heart of Europe’s media landscape as producers and distributors of European original content and news. We embrace the digital environment providing new services, formats and content to meet the growing European demand for quality content on various distribution models.

For further information please contact: Erard Gilles | Senior Policy Officer| eg@acte.be

ASSOCIATION OF BULGARIAN BROADCASTERS (ABBRO)

ABBRO is the non-governmental organisation of commercial TV and Radio broadcasters in Bulgaria.
The association is the most representative industry body for Bulgaria for the television, radio and
on demand services. Its members operate various national free-to-air, cable and satellite TV
channels with the highest rating of viewers’ trust, on-demand services and radio networks. ABBRO
contributes to the law-making process to ensure fair and transparent market rules, as well as
favourable legal framework for the development of media services in Bulgaria.

For more information see www.abbro-bg.org Contact: Anna Tanova | Executive Director |
a.tanova@abbro-bg.org

ASSOCIATION DES CHAÎNES CONVENTIONNÉES ÉDITRICES DE SERVICES (ACCeS)

Founded in 1997, the “Association des Chaînes Conventionnées éditrices de Services” (Association of licensed channels editor of services – ACCeS) brings together 35 channels established in France, which have concluded a legal agreement (convention) with the French Media Regulator (ARCOM) for the broadcasting by cable, satellite and ADSL, digital terrestrial hertzian broadcasting, or another electronic communication network on the French territory.

For more information please contact: Eric Brion | Secretary General | ebrion@acces.tv

ASOCIACE KOMERČNÍCH TELEVIZÍ (AKTV)

The Association of Commercial Television (Asociace komerčních televizí – AKTV) was formed in 2017
as an association of terrestrial television broadcasting operators with the goal of defending,
supporting and promoting the common interests of commercial broadcasters in the Czech Republic.
The founding members of the Association are the Nova, Prima and Óčko television networks.

For further information please contact: Marie Fianová | Secretary | marie.fianova@aktv.cz

ROMANIAN ASSOCIATION FOR AUDIOVISUAL COMMUNICATIONS (ARCA)

The Romanian Association for Audiovisual Communications (Asociatia Româ nă de Comunicaţ ii
Audiovizuale – ARCA) joins the main radio (Europa Fm, Kiss Fm, Radio Zu, National FM, Radio
Romania, etc.) and television (ProTv, Antena 1, KanalD, Prima TV, Antena 3, RomaniaTv, B1Tv,
National Tv, etc) companies operating in Romania. ARCA works for developing an auspicious climate
for audiovisual media business in Romania by representing the interests of the Romanian
broadcasters in the relationship with the authorities, the political environment and the civil society.

For more information please consult www.audiovizual.ro. Contact: George Chirita, executive
director: george@audiovizual.ro

CONFINDUSTRIA RADIO TELEVISIONI (CRTV)

Confindustria Radio Televisioni (CRTV) is the association of Italian radio and television broadcasters. Established in June 2013, CRTV among its members includes Italy’s major national broadcasters: CN Media (Radio KISS KISS), Discovery Italy, Elemedia (GEDI), Gruppo 24Ore (Radio24), GM24, La7, Mediaset, Persidera, Prima TV, QVC Italy, Radio Italia, Rai, RDS – Radio Dimensione Suono, Rete Blu, RTL 102,500 Hit Radio, Tivù, Viacom International Media Networks Italy. Major local TV and radio broadcasters are represented in CRTV through the Association of Local Televisions and the Association of Local Radios FRT. Aggregated members include satellite operator Eutelsat Italia. All major categories of the broadcasting industry are represented in CRTV: public and private broadcasters, national and local broadcasters as well as platform and network operators. CRTV’s goal is to represent the broadcasting industry as a whole at institutional, legislative and contractual level. CRTV collaborates on a regular basis with all relevant ministries, institutions and regulators at national and at European Union level, and with international organizations and institutions. CRTV’s goal is to guarantee and promote the growth of radio and TV industry based on fair competition, equal access and respect of users’ rights.

UNIÓN TELEVISIONES COMERCIALES EN ABIERTO (UTECA)

The Spanish Union of Commercial Free-To-Air Television (Unión Televisiones Comerciales en Abierto – UTECA), which was established in 1998, represents and defends the common interests of free-to-air commercial television channels at the national, community and international level. UTECA’s members are Atresmedia, DKISS, Net TV, Real Madrid TV, TEN, TRECE and VEO TV. The associates manage 14 Digital Terrestrial Television channels.

For more information see www.uteca.tv or contact Emilio Lliteras | Director General | direccion@uteca.tv

ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRIAN COMMERCIAL BROADCASTERS (VÖP)

The Association of Austrian Commercial Broadcasters (VÖP) represents commercial Radio and TV broadcasters in Austria. Among the most important goals is the establishment of fair competition and equal opportunities – on a national level between private broadcasters and the Austrian public service broadcaster ORF, as well as on an international level, i.e. regarding competition with international media companies and platforms. Other objectives are to show the journalistic and economic importance of the private broadcasting sector in Austria, to strengthen the economic basis of commercial broadcasters and to actively support technological development of the industry.

For more information see www.voep.at. Contact: Corinna Drumm | Director General | corinna.drumm@voep.at

[1] Today is World Press Freedom Day, you can find more information at https://www.un.org/en/observances/press- freedom-day/background

VOYO WANTS TO BE PART OF THE BIG THREE. WE ARE ALREADY NUMBER TWO IN THE MARKET, SAYS DANIEL GRUNT

Nova TV has already succeeded in beating HBO Max in the number of subscribers to its video service Voyo. It is the second strongest streaming service in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

However, Disney+ entering the local market on 14 June may shuffle the ranking. According to Daniel Grunt, Chief Digital Officer in CME, which owns the Nova Group, Disney is investing the highest amounts in content production and we cannot rule out that it will dethrone Netflix globally. To find out more, read the continuation of our interview with Daniel Grunt, which follows the first part from last week.

Most TVs already have 4K resolution, some of them even 8K. Do you adjust the picture quality on Voyo accordingly?

Not at the moment. I have tested Voyo on my 4K OLED TV and I do not need any 4K source for the picture to be excellent when…

… when your TV can upscale to 4K in real time.

Exactly. The upscaling in real time on TV will get better and better as the computing capacity of TV chips will improve. That will be sufficient for ordinary viewers but of course not for some connoisseurs who will look for every pixel with a magnifying glass. When I as a common user want to relax watching a film in Full HD resolution, TV will transfer it to 4K and the experience is very good for me. We are not planning 4K resolution now but going forward, we will certainly move the Voyo Originál products to higher image quality and we have to get ready. It will be a change for the entire production chain but we will have to do it at some point.

And what about Nova’s older shows and films and series from times when there was no HD quality?

We are focusing on having everything in Full HD if possible. One of the projects on which our people are working is the improvement of the quality of older titles. Voyo has been on the market for 11 years, it has a big library including a number of old titles in SD or HD ready resolution. So now we are changing hundreds of titles each quarter to improve quality. At some point we will find out that no higher quality is available for some titles and we will just consider whether the title is interesting enough be on offer with lower image quality.

You have said that 60 percent of users watch Voyo via TV. Is that followed by a computer or a mobile device?

Then it is in principle one-to-one for mobile and laptop with mobile and its importance increasing. Logically and practically, I am convinced that watching Voyo on TV will achieve a greater percentage in the long term, mobile will also grow and the importance of laptops will decline. I will be either at home watching on a big screen or if it is occupied by another family member I may switch on the laptop. But outside, I will use my mobile – on the way to school, to work, on vacation, on weekends…

Do you have any idea for how many users Voyo is the first streaming service? You have said that Czech viewers use 1.3 streaming services per household on average. Logically, they have to use some more and some less – and consider whether it is worth paying for the less used ones.

This is exactly the reason why I have said that for us it is extremely important that people are as active as possible in our service. For this reason, one of the metrics we monitor is the amount of time spent watching our shows per week. Because the more time I spend with a service, the more satisfied I am with it and there is no reason to cut it off. But we do not know the percentage of the use of Voyo and other services as we have no way of finding it. We do not know how viewers use other services, we do not know precise numbers of their subscribers.

Do you commission independent surveys through agencies such as Ipsos or GfK?

Of course we do. There are many surveys and they are made from various perspectives and we are trying to make a big picture of the market. But you are asking about a very detailed matter. For example, we ask on a monthly basis about competitors and how users consumer Voyo – whether daily, several times a week, once a week, several times a month, once a month or not at all. Over the past few months, Voyo has seen the highest growth of any service in daily and weekly usage.

To what degree is linear content important within Voyo? I mean Nova Sport and sports broadcasting.

Linear content in general is an interesting complement but it is not an acquisition factor. It is not something to make people pay for Voyo but if they have Voyo they like using it in situations when they are not in front their TV sets. We can see that linear watching of these channels via Voyo is growing on weekends and during holidays. As for sports broadcasting, it is the most attractive from linear channels. Especially combat sports such as MMA, KSW, etc., attractive football matches, NHL and NBA.

Does it mean that for example Eurosport Player is not a competitor to you as it is a purely sporting matter?

Eurosport Player is a very narrow section. It is a very specific offer, a clearly defined target group, so we do not perceive it as a competitor at the moment.

Let us move to another issue, the Czechflix project that was intended to aggregate content of streaming services from all large Czech TV groups. You said at the DIGIMEDIA 2021 conference last year that negotiations with ČT and Prima were ongoing but that it would depend on the conditions for cooperation being advantageous for all parties. Have the discussions progressed somehow?

No, they have not.

And are they still going on?

Let us say that the intensity of the discussions is lower than it used to be.

If Czechflix is established, would you provide it with Nova’s TV content or the original production from Voyo?

It is a question I cannot answer because if there is no model of how the service should look like, what the main benefits for individual participants there will be it is hard to predict. All of the participants should provide their premium production for the service to make sense, which means ideally originals just like Voyo Originál, and another thing that works, i.e. previews of TV series.

How are the Voyo trailers around Televizní noviny (TV News) working out for you? Previously, Nova promoted evening shows on linear channels, now it also promotes selected films or series on Voyo. Do viewers watch what is promoted in the time when it is promoted?

Logically, TV is our strongest communication channel. What we communicate around Televizní noviny and in prime time works the most. We watch the service’s traffic, new signups and entries on Voyo home page at the time the trailers are running and we can see big peaks. It is an immediate effect showing the power of TV. Usually what I communicate most strongly on TV I have on the most premium positions on the home page of the service, so it is hard to tell whether the decisive factor was the trailer on TV or that a user came to Voyo and came across the show.

Is it worth it driving people away from linear broadcasting to Voyo and reducing the ad block rating?

We are not driving out those who want to watch linear TV because they are going to stay with the linear broadcasting. For people who are not sure and consider switching to another channel or paying for another service it is better to go to us rather than to somewhere else. That is why we are doing it. It is better to cannibalise ourselves than being cannibalised by someone else.

350 thousand users is quite a lot, it is a good chunk of money. Is Voyo in the black or are you still in the red?

We are still in the red.

And what is the outlook?

Our plan is really long-term, for five years, which does not end with a million users but with a higher number. There are relating investments, income and we are now above the plans in terms of revenues because we have significantly more subscribers than we planned for this time. Now we have more than 350 thousand users, which is a level we planned for the second half of this year. And I am talking about an adjusted plan because based on last year’s results, we have increased the plan for 2021-2025. The goals for the end of this year are substantially higher than we planned at the beginning of last year. It is still true that in 2025 we should generate profit. I think that if we continue at the same pace as so far we will be profitable.

Which means that at a million users you will be in the black.

Profit depends on the amount of investments in content and we can see now that the more we invest the more subscribers we get. As any digital business, we prefer growth to profit. But we can change it whenever we want. At present, our investments in content are huge. We are talking about billions of crowns so even if the income from Voyo is wonderful, investments in content production are even higher.

Do you think about offering multiple types of subscription? For example Netflix has several levels: the basic rate for a single device and SD resolution, then a version in HD for multiple devices, after that Premium in 4k. HBO Max has come with a reduced introductory price…

We will consider it in the future. Now I think it is too early because both we and the market are in the growing phase. It is much more important to acquire as many people as possible to subscribe to the service and any division into packages makes the message about the product more complicated. For me it is important that the message is as simple as possible in order to educate the market. Working with subscription packages will start to make sense when the market starts to slow down and we need to keep our subscribers or increase income.

Are you worried about inflation and that the prices of everything are going up and people will try to save money? And that entertainment will be the first thing to cut off? It is dispensable.

We will see what will happen. Practically speaking, CZK 159 per month – how many packs of cigarettes is that?

Not everyone smokes.

When I go to the pub with my friends, how many pints will I have for this amount? When I go to the cinema, for CZK 159 I would have to go there alone to watch just one film so if I take my family with me and go to the cinema to watch a single film, I will pay a multiple of what I will pay for Voyo’s library with 17 thousand hours of content and all my family can watch. So there is no problem there in my point of view. But we may need to introduce such comparative communication at some point. But I think that people would stop going to the cinema rather than unsubscribe from Voyo or Netflix.

Every time I go to the newsagent’s, subscription cards for Netflix or Voyo catch my eye. How does this method of subscription work? Is it selling well?

We introduced it during the last year in the autumn season. It was based on a simple consideration that there was still a segment of people, especially older ones, who were not used to paying online. It related much to Ordinace. We offered this subscription method to these people but it is really a minority issue. When I look at the methods of payments for Voyo, 99 percent of people use recurrent payments when the amount is deducted from their credit card.

But the subscription cards make you visible at the newsagent’s.

Exactly. It is visible and we are giving a chance to people who might be discouraged by the online payment using a credit card.

Or it may be an option to give Voyo as a gift.

Yes, this worked very well at Christmas. We sold a large number of annual packages. The Voyo brand got under people’s skin. By the way, this is one of the things that Nova managed to achieve: increase brand awareness. When you look at the market today, we are the largest together with Netflix. When you ask about a streaming service, Netflix is the first what comes to people’s mind. Voyo is second. Then there is a long pause followed by other services with single-digit shares.

We were discussing it in detail at the DIGIMEDIA conference several years ago. At that time you said that you had a large group of people tracking where Voyo’s original content appeared so that you could report it and have it blocked.

We have a team of people who are engaged in it and we are paying about three external agencies that are searching the content for us, reporting it and we then solve it. After the launch of Voyo Origiál there has been an increase and it costs us a lot of money to manage the surveillance. Yes, we are still reporting pirate copies to entities such as Uložto and they are responding with delay, often within days. And when they delete the content it reappears. If we had less activities against pirates I think that Voyo could not work well. Piracy would kill it.

Nova has the same owner as the largest IPTV service in our country, O2 TV. Are you planning any synergies? O2 TV has purchased a lot of interesting sports rights…

Yes, it is true. At the same time, Nova is selling many rights to O2 TV, in principle most of the best football leagues in Europe that run on O2 are bought from Nova. That is why we are talking about it. It is not specific to O2 TV. When we look at all advanced countries, major streaming services cooperate with all operators and large content suppliers of a particular country. So it is quite probable that Voyo will be available via these operators along with the standard offer of linear channels of all pay TV stations, along with Netflix, HBO Max and Disney+. It is a trend, it is where the market is going and we can see it everywhere.

I do not know whether O2 TV still has a video library…

Yes, it has.

Does not it make sense to replace it with Voyo if you have the same owner?

It will make sense if we manage to create an interesting concept to be proposed to users because Voyo has some value. Premium content has some value that is large and it will always be reflected in the price of the package. Be it O2 or other potential partners in future, Voyo must always have its value. With Voyo, we will never go below the cost for which it is available to users separately in the market, for which they can buy it directly. As I said a while ago, in the stage of growth we definitely do not want to provide any substantial price reductions to pander because we would reduce the perceived value of Voyo. And if Voyo has increased so much over the last year it is because people started perceiving its value.

What streaming services are you watching at home and how much time do you spend with them?

If we are talking just about streaming services, I have Voyo, Netflix, HBO Max, Amazon Prime, Europsport Player and in addition I also subscribe to Spotify for the entire family and Xbox Gold for children. And I may be paying for something else that I no longer remember.

Do you manage to watch them?

I make a selection. I am the kind of person who sits down in front of the TV at night and goes through his ritual. I am going through all of the services I am paying for unless I am watching a series. I have come to a stage when I do not watch films at home at all. I switch on TV after 9 or 10 pm and it is late to watch a film. I rather watch two or three episodes of some series that are 50 minutes long and I still have a chance to stop when the episode ends.

But If I am not in the middle of watching a show, I go through all services and quite often end up watching linear TV. I switch on something that is on, I watch from the middle, it is interrupted by ads although I know that if I make four steps and put a blue-ray disk in Xbox I could have the same thing in better quality, from the beginning and with no ads. But I still keep sitting and watching linear broadcasting because all I want is peace of mind. I think that many people will do the same in future. New users who will subscribe to a streaming service will be overwhelmed by it at first, they will watch the best for several months and then they will find out that making a decision what to watch is painful. It will annoy them to search what they have not seen yet or what is new. Even the large size of the library portfolio may be limiting if you have to make a choice.

When using competitive services, do you come across something that is better than on Voyo and that could inspire you?

We get inspired all the time, if only because we started investing significantly more in Voyo and its development last spring. I remember that when I worked at MTG (former fifty-percent owner of Prima, ed.) they had several slogans in their DNA and one of them was “copy with pride”. And it was not meant negatively at all. The point is that often it is better to take inspiration from what works in the market and is established than inventing something nobody else has because it may mean that it does not work. But it is not that we are mindlessly copying everything we like. We think a lot about why they have it this way or that way, why they have selected a particular approach and we think about how to improve it.

How many of the big streaming services do you think can make a living on the Czech market?

The general economic theory is working with the concept of an economy of three or the “Big Three”. If there is a market that has already been developed or mature, three big services can survive in it and along with them maybe some more narrowly focused ones if they keep a sharp eye on their costs. I am convinced that in the Czech market, there can be three services that will be profitable in the long term. And we have to be one of them.

One of them or number one?

We do not need to be the first, we want to be one of the top three services. For me, it is important to have a certain number of people paying us regularly and to be one of the first services that come to people’s mind when they think about signing up to a SVOD service.

Source: televizniweb.cz

HBBTV SYMPOSIUM AND AWARDS 2022 CALLS FOR SPONSORS

The 10th HbbTV Symposium and Awards on November 9-10, 2022 in Prague, Czech Republic, will provide a unique platform to target top-level executives of the global connected TV industry with commercial and promotional activities. The HbbTV Association, which co-hosts the in-person event with the Czech Association of Commercial Television (AKTV), has compiled several attractive sponsorship packages.

“After last year’s very successful 9th HbbTV Symposium and Awards in Paris, attended by around 180 visitors, we are excited to offer the international broadcast and broadband community another great opportunity to meet, exchange the latest news and obtain first-hand insights in new products and services. Sponsors benefit from a focused target group of high-profile market players at the 10th edition of the connected TV industry’s annual key event,” said Vincent Grivet, Chair of the HbbTV Association. “I’m sure that the location in Prague, reflecting the very active and innovative HbbTV landscape in Central and Eastern Europe, will provide additional value to sponsors.”

The HbbTV Symposium and Awards 2022 will take place at the National house of Vinohrady. The prestigious neo-renaissance building, centrally located in Prague, will provide a first-class base for conference attendees, sponsors and networking.

Details on the sponsoring packages at the HbbTV Symposium and Awards 2022 and the preceding preview and demo events can be found in the Call for Sponsors. Interested companies are encouraged to secure their commercial arrangements quickly as the opportunities are limited, ensuring great visibility for the participating partners. Early bird offers with reduced rates are available until May 15, 2022.

Contact details for sponsoring
Mr. Andrea M. Michelozzi, Dime Comunicaciones, Tel: +34 (606) 516 106, email andrea@dimecomunica.com

The HbbTV Symposium will also host the 5^th edition of the HbbTV Awards, featuring a wide range of categories designed to acclaim best practice and excellence in the HbbTV community. Details on the categories and participation will be announced in due course.
About the HbbTV Association
Hybrid broadcast broadband TV (or “HbbTV”) is a global initiative developing a specification enabling the delivery of advanced and interactive TV and entertainment services to consumers through a combined use of both broadcast and broadband networks. The HbbTV specification is developed by industry leaders to improve the video experience of consumers on connected TV sets, set-top boxes and multiscreen devices. The HbbTV specification uses elements of existing specifications from other standards including OIPF, CEA, DVB, MPEG-DASH and W3C. With the incorporation of activities from the Open IPTV Forum (OIPF) in 2014 and Smart TV Alliance in 2016, HbbTV is able to address service providers and technology suppliers for IPTV services as well as the combined scope of broadcast and over-the-top (OTT) services.

HbbTV is organised as a non-profit association registered in Switzerland and has around 80 members which include all global TV manufacturers, the large European broadcasters and TV platforms as well as a vast array of global technology and chipset vendors. More information: www.hbbtv.org

Contact HbbTV Association:
Angelo Pettazzi
Chair HbbTV Marketing and Education Working Group (MEWG)
email: angelo.pettazzi@mediaset.it
Tel: +39 02 2514 8355

Press Contact:
Thomas Fuchs
Fuchs Media Consult GmbH
email: tfuchs@fuchsmc.com
Tel: +49 171 4483 168

About the Czech Association of Commercial Television
The Czech Association of Commercial Television (AKTV) was formed in 2017 as an association of terrestrial television broadcasting operators with the goal of defending, supporting and promoting the common interests of commercial broadcasters in the Czech Republic. The founding members of the Association are the Nova, Prima and Óčko television networks. More information: www.aktv.cz

Contact Czech Association of Commercial Television:
Marie Fianová
AKTV Secretary
email marie.fianova@aktv.cz
Tel: +420 724 442 935

EGRP CAMPAIGNS HELP INCREASING AFFINITY AND REACH

eGrp campaigns bring greater reach and improved affinity, especially to clients willing to address a younger target group, describes Petr Hatlapatka from Media Club.

At the beginning of 2022, the media agency Media Club included a portion of online video space (digital eGRPs) in TV packages, expecting maximisation of reach and improved affinity of campaigns in a selected target group. “For example, for a healthy food product targeting women aged 18-30, we had a total of 795 GRPs in February, of which 3.3% were eGRPs. Their affinity to the target group was 260% better,” says Petr Hatlapatka, Head of Online Sales in Media Club.

Data from TV and online campaigns are assessed jointly in a single software thanks to AdCross measurement. We asked Petr Hatlapatka about his first experience with eGRPs.

Prima included digital eGRPs in sales last year as well. Can you compare the interest in eGRPs year on year?

Last year, it was a trial stage of our eGRP sales, so the comparison is pointless. However, the project of joint TV and online advertising measurement AdCross has been developed with Nielsen for more than two years. Since last November and December, we have made the results available in AdCross in test mode. Media agencies thus could watch certain campaigns in AdCross to see how the system worked before going live this January.

And if you were to assess your experience with eGRP in the first quarter?

Clients with younger target groups are interested in eGRP campaigns. In addition, we can see an unplanned effect of eGRP. Click-through URL is added to video spots, showing the size of a visitor group coming from Prima’s websites. Clients can work with it further, e.g. using retargeting.

The average share of eGRPs in Media Club campaigns in this first quarter was 1% according to the data you have published. But for younger target groups, the share is higher. How high is it?

At most it is about 5%. eGRP is profitable especially for clients targeting the 15-35 age group. In the 35-55 age group, which is strong in TV rating, the addition to the total reach is not that high. The affinity gets improved but the additional reach does not increase much. The 15-35 age group’s online affinity is up to 100-200 percent higher.

Does the reach growth in campaigns comprising eGRPs correlate to the reach growth? Do both values increase similarly?

Affinity improves with a higher number of eGRPs, which has a positive impact on the aggregate results of the campaign. When a TV campaign is strong, it can have widespread reach. Campaigns with a higher number of eGRPs clearly show that the combination of online and TV will reach weaker TV viewers. Thanks to eGRP, the reach of the target group may be higher.

The only source generating eGRPs is the iPrima.cz website. Or are there any other websites?

At the moment, it is predominantly iPrima.cz that is included in the eGRP sale. For the future, we are planning to include CNNPrima.cz but it has not been involved yet. In April, we should launch eGRPs in mobile applications. You have to take into consideration that any such step is rather demanding because content has to be equipped with measuring codes. We want to increase inventory to include advertising in IPTV going forward. Yet the implementation is very complicated. Realistically, such an expansion could occur in the autumn.

How could inventory increase with both mobile applications and IPTV?

We cannot estimate this yet because we do not know what solution IPTV operators will choose for placing advertisements. In the most ideal scenario, the increase could be up to double. But this will not happen this year. It will grow gradually depending on how successful we will be in the implementation of individual operators.

You have stated that from the following year you consider increasing the share of eGRPs in the joint sales with TV. Will this be a blanket increase or just for selected target groups?

We would increase the share just for certain target groups; doing it across the board does not make sense. Now the share is up to 3% and varies by client. Clients with younger target groups show a higher share.

Can you imagine a double-digit share of eGRPs?

It would make sense for some clients as affinity improves dramatically. It is a matter of negotiating the composition of the bundle with a client.

For what types of videos are eGRP campaigns showed?

TV videos or videos prepared for online only have a great advantage that they are made professionally and that we as a broadcaster have a full control over them. Clients are guaranteed safety and quality of view, which is difficult with user-generated videos. Clients then wonder where their ad is showing up. For example, we are able to prevent ads for alcohol from appearing on children’s programmes, or from appearing to users under the age of 18, whatever content they are watching. At present, if a client does not want their ads to appear in videos relating to the war in Ukraine, we are able to exclude the content at the level of specific videos.

Did the video advertising market show a steady upward trend in this year’s first quarter?

The video advertising in the first quarter was growing although part of the quarter was affected by the conflict in Ukraine. A number of clients delayed or rescheduled their campaigns, which is reflected in figures and the growth may seem quite low. Therefore, we do not consider this quarter to be indicative. The situation is similar to the first two months of Covid-19.

At the meeting with clients, you were talking about important trends in the TV advertising development, mainly the expected decline of linear TV and growth of video on demand. How can these trends be reflected in the proportion of eGRPs in campaigns in the medium term?

I estimate that it may go up to a 20% limit. Clients are those who should get nervous about the rating trends in the first place. If we look at it with common sense, most of the 10 million Czechs spend some time in front of the TV screen – older viewers more, younger viewers divide their time between TV and SVOD. For example, out of three hours of viewing they devote an hour a day to a SVOD service and two hours to TV. But on a SVOD service, a client will buy no campaign. And if in theory all TV viewers start behaving this way, the number of available GRPs of TV advertising will fall by a third. Clients who build their marketing and business plans on TV will suddenly have a problem to buy sufficient GRPs because GRPs will be reduced in general. Broadcasters can cover the loss of advertising revenue with subscriptions. The problem will be felt primarily by clients.

Source: mediaguru.cz

HOW TODAY’S TV DRIVES BRANDS?

Do you know how today’s TV drives brands?

Egta and The Global TV Group asked 23 CEOs, Director-Generals and Presidents of TV companies and ad sales companies to share their views on the many facets of today’s TV. Some aspects are widely recognised, others are yet to be discovered.
These key insights are now freely available in a unique 28-page slide deck, containing video testimonials, figures, quotes, cases, and more.

Download the compilation and discover first-hand how media industry leaders champion the power of today’s TV – and share what tomorrow’s TV has in store for us.

RESEARCH: CZECHS CONSIDER MEDIA INDEPENDENCE IMPORTANT

Research in the Visegrad Four countries found that the public supports EU measures on media freedom.

The first comprehensive survey of public attitudes towards media freedom in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia shows that 52% of people are concerned about the state of media freedom in their country. 71% of respondents support stronger national legislation to protect media independence and 59% of respondents agree with greater EU powers in protecting media freedom.

The survey also shows large regional differences. While attitudes towards media freedom in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia are basically comparable, in Hungary, where the ruling party controls most of the country’s media, support for editorial autonomy and independence of public service media was significantly lower, according to the survey.

Compared to the other V4 countries, the Czech Republic has the highest proportion of people who consider media independence an important value (86%), the highest proportion of those who think that media owners should not interfere with editorial autonomy (62%), but also the lowest proportion of those who express concern about the state of media freedom (47%), and the lowest proportion of those who agree with economic support of the media by the state (25%, half as many as in Poland).

Key findings:

Concerns about media freedom across the V4 countries. 52% of respondents expressed concern about the current state of media freedom (63% in Poland, 49% in Slovakia, 48% in Hungary and 47% in the Czech Republic).
Greater understanding of media independence is expressed by those who rely more on online sources for information about political events. The survey found that people who read online news content are more likely to consider the values related to media freedom important. In Hungary and Poland, frequent reading of printed newspapers is associated with less positive views of media freedom and independence.
Younger generations are less concerned than older people. In most of the V4 countries, young people are relatively less concerned about media freedom and independence. In Hungary, only 36% of 18-24 year olds expressed concern, compared to 61% in Poland. In Slovakia, the figure drops to 39%.
Media freedom has become a deeply politicised issue. When asked whether they were very concerned about media freedom, 89% of the supporters of the Hungarian Democratic Coalition answered in the affirmative, while only 10% of Fidesz supporters expressed concern. In Poland, only 34% of PiS supporters consider media freedom to be a serious problem, while 90% of opposition supporters say they are concerned about it. In the Czech Republic, supporters of ANO or the far-right SPD are again much less likely to consider the values on which media freedom is based to be important than supporters of other parties.

23% of Slovaks believe that the state of media freedom has improved over the last five years, which is the highest percentage of all V4 countries. This opinion is more common among voters of OLANO (37%) and the PS/SPOLU coalition (51%), while only 8% of SMER voters agree with this opinion. Among the V4 nations, Slovaks are the most supportive of EU sanctions against countries where governments interfere with media freedom (64%).

90% of Polish Coalicja Obywatelska voters are “concerned” about the current state of media freedom, 52% are “very concerned” (top of the scale). 34% of Prawo i Sprawedliwość voters are concerned (42% are not concerned), 7% are very concerned. 87% of Koalicja Obywatelska voters are against the government’s influence on public media news compared to only 47% of PiS voters.

When asked if they were “very concerned” about media freedom, 89% of the supporters of the Hungarian Democratic Coalition answered in the affirmative compared to only 10% of Fidesz supporters. Media freedom is “absolutely important” for only 34% of Fidesz voters, but for 89% of Democratic Coalition voters.

The survey was initiated by the Editorial Independence Council in cooperation with the Czech National Committee of the International Press Institute and with the support of Bakala Foundation. It showed how political and generational divisions and the way people consume media significantly shape attitudes towards press freedom in individual countries.

~~About the survey~~

The survey was carried out from 1 to 17 February 2022 by Median, combining online panel surveys and telephone interviews. The total size of the sample was 4,069 respondents (aged 18+). The survey was initiated by the Editorial Independence Council in cooperation with the Czech National Committee of the International Press Institute and with the support of Bakala Foundation.

Source: mediaguru.cz