Just how well did the leading TV channels in Central and Eastern Europe perform in 2017?
Although we’re only two weeks into the New Year, some broadcasters in the region are already informing us of their success in 2017. Various reports on viewing figures are also appearing in local media industry sources.
So what do we know so far? In Ukraine, we have learned that Ukraine was the country’s most popular channel among viewers aged 18-54, cities 50+, with a share of 10.65%. It was followed by 1+1 (9.49%), STB (9.06%), ICTV (8.92%), Inter (6.90%) and New Channel (6.72%). According to a release, the TV audience data is owned by TIC, with the panel operator being Nielsen and monitoring undertaken by Communication Alliance.
It should be noted here that Ukraine is operated by Media Group Ukraine (MGU), which also lists NLO TV, Indigo TV and the sports channels Futbol 1 and 2 among its assets.
Elsewhere, Romania’s Intact Media Group has provided Broadband TV News with a summary of its channels’ performance in 2017. The main takeaway points are that its TV division had a daily reach of more than nine million people. It flagship channel Antena 1 was watched by 7.364 million Romanians for at least one minute a day, while www.A1.ro had over 4 million unique users.
Meanwhile, Antena 3 was the country’s leading news-based service, being watched by more than 3.9 million people every day, and the showbiz channel Antena Stars claimed almost 3 million viewers a day for at least a minute.
Happy Channel, which is aimed at women, also had a successful year, being watched by over one million viewers for a least a minute a day. At the same time, ZU TV, aimed at viewers aged 15-34, became an interactive TV channel in 2017.
In Poland, we were informed by Wirtualne Media, quoting data produced by Nielsen Audience Measurement, that the most watched channel terrestrially among viewers aged 4+ in 2017 was Polsat (13.72%). It was followed by TVP1 (12.49%), TVP2 (9.79%) and TVN (9.65%), with all four posting lower figures than a year earlier. However, it was not all gloom and doom, with fifth-placed TVP Info, for instance, growing its share by 18.38% during the year to reach 7.21%. The new DTT channels on MUX-8 (Eska TV, Metro, Zoom and WP) also did well.
Furthermore, it was interesting to note that in one particular niche segment (kids TV), Polsat was still the leading broadcaster, claiming a 10.09% share among viewers aged 4-12. However, the public broadcaster’s kids channel TVP ABC had a hugely successful year, growing its share by 37.2% to reach second place, with 8.52%.
Needless to say, these figures are just the tip of the iceberg and Broadband TV News will report on any in the region that look exceptional as and when they become available.