Television viewing in the Czech Republic increased sharply in February following the introduction of a new audience currency that includes out-of-home viewing for the first time.
Data highlighted by Atmedia shows viewers aged 15+ spent an average of 4 hours and 11 minutes per day watching television during the month, a 10% increase compared with February last year.
The measurement change took effect on 1 February and provides the first full month of aggregated data combining both in-home and out-of-home viewing across the Czech market.
“The high year-on-year increase is mainly due to out-of-home viewing. However, even without it, television viewing in February increased year-on-year. The Winter Olympics, which traditionally attract a large number of viewers to their television screens, played a role,” said Michaela Suráková, managing director at Atmedia.
Out-of-home viewing accounted for around 17 minutes of the daily average viewing time, representing 7% of total television consumption. According to Atmedia, roughly four-fifths of the year-on-year growth in viewing came from out-of-home viewing, while the remaining fifth came from increased in-home viewing.
The share of out-of-home viewing was higher in key commercial audiences, reaching 10% among viewers aged 15–54 and 9% among those aged 18–69. Total television consumption in these groups also increased year-on-year, rising by 7% and 8% respectively.
“We see the largest share of out-of-home viewing among the youngest viewers under 34, who naturally spend more time away from home than older age groups,” Suráková added.
The data also shows that certain channel categories benefit disproportionately from viewing outside the home.
Music channels recorded particularly strong results. Rebel TV, part of the Atmedia portfolio, saw out-of-home viewing account for 14% of its total viewing among viewers aged 18–69 in February.
Some documentary and children’s channels, including Discovery Channel and Disney Channel, also recorded relatively high shares of viewing outside the home.
Sports channels represent a separate category where viewing outside the home is traditionally strong, often taking place in restaurants, sports bars and public screenings.
February viewing was boosted by the Winter Olympic Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo. According to Atmedia, Eurosport 1 – the main Olympic broadcaster – reached 1.7 million viewers aged 4+ during the Games, nearly three times the audience achieved during the Beijing Winter Olympics four years earlier.
Out-of-home viewing accounted for 10% of Eurosport 1’s total viewing among viewers aged 18–69 during the month.
