CME - Central European Media Enterprises

• Slovenia’s Got Talent is Most-Watched
• Croatia's Number One Show
• A Czech & Slovak Battle
• G. D. focus – Czech Republic

• New Fiction Series in Croatia
• Media Pro Entertainments First Short Film Wins Award

• Dnevnik.hr Innovates
• Bulgarian Web Success

Broadcast

A Message From Anthony Chhoy, Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning and Operations

We ended the spring season with excellent results, boosted by the quality of the local content produced by Media Pro Entertainment. Slovenia’s Got Talent and Romania’s Got Talent became the most watched show of the year in both countries. Cooking reality show MasterChef was the most popular locally produced show in Croatia. We have a strong broadcasting Fall schedule in place and look forward to sharing the results of some of our new innovative shows in the upcoming editions.

Grand Finale of Slovenia’s Got Talent is Most-Watched Show of Year

The second season of Slovenia’s Got Talent on POP TV finished with strong voices and strong results. The last episode of the spring season’s popular talent show attracted a studio audience of over 10,000 members. The grand finale was a must-see and scored the season's top rating for all channels. 

“To take this show to an even higher level in the second season was a mission we were striving to achieve all season long. The finale of the most-watched entertainment TV show in Slovenia was one of the biggest domestic live productions our country has ever seen on TV. This effort was also recognized by viewers, who showed their support in large numbers,” said Branko Čakarmiš, PRO PLUS Programming Director.

During its 13 weeks of broadcast, the talent show was viewers' favorite choice by far. The second season of the show gained an even bigger audience than the first season among its primary target group (18-49 years), with a season average rating of 23.6% and a 64% audience share.

The grand finale achieved amazing results. It was not only the highest-rated show of the season on POP TV but also this year's winning show among all Slovenian TV stations, with a 29.7% rating and 71% share of viewers in its primary target group, according to AGB Nielsen Media Research.

Croatia Produces Number One Local Show

Cooking reality show MasterChef has become the most popular locally-produced show in Croatia in terms of audience share. This spring saw the debut of the program on Nova TV, newly licensed on the market, where it gained an average 33.7% audience share in the 18-54 target group. During its first season, it beat the popular Big Brother format screened by Nova TV’s competitors.

Nova TV recruited prominent chefs Tomislav Gretić and Mate Janković and food critic Radovan Marčić as the jury and propelled them to national stardom. The contestants were offered real jobs in top hotels and restaurants shortly after they competed. Media critics and industry experts hailed MasterChef as “the first clever TV show” that has ever focused on cuisine. Following the show, the winner will have the opportunity to launch his or her own cookbook.

A Czech & Slovak Battle

This summer the Czech’s and Slovaks are supporting another on-screen battle between nations. The countries have previously been known to pit their voices against each other in Czech Slovak SuperStar (Česko-Slovenská Superstar), this time, however, the competition has taken on a far more physical nature. This July, TV Markiza and TV Nova began screening a celebrity version of Wipe Out, and International format on licence from Endemol. Produced by Media Pro Entertainment, Eighteen Czech and Slovak celebrities compete on an extreme obstacle course. The format has already proved extremely popular in America, the United Kingdom and Japan, and it repeated its success on TV Nova and TV Markiza. In its first week Wipe Out gained an audience share of 47% in the Czech Republic and 49.7% in the Slovak Republic.

General Director Focus – Czech Republic

Jan Andruško has led TV Nova, the Czech Republic’s oldest and most successful commercial free-to-air channel, since January 2011. Covering CME’s largest market in terms of revenues, the Czech portfolio also includes Nova Sport, Nova Cinema and MTV Czech channels. Jan recently took time to speak with On Screen.

You’ve been at the helm of TV Nova for around half a year now. Have you made any major changes?

TV Nova is a strong brand, and was when I arrived, so didn’t need any significant changes. However, as with any business, there are always improvements to be made and departments which can be strengthened.

Has digitalization proved to be a threat to market leadership?

We’ve supported digitalization from the start and believe that it’s a positive thing. It’s an opportunity for us, as a market leader, to explore further space for growth and development.

Of course it also opens room for competition and new stations, but because of our leadership position we are not concerned. We are confident in our plans and strategies and are not afraid to compete with others. 

What are some of the advertising trends in the Czech market at the moment?

We are witnessing a comeback of advertisers to television. Television has yet again proved to be the most effective media type thanks to its distribution platform, the accessibility to target audiences, and more effective evaluation tools thanks to the daily telemetric data on viewership. 

There is a higher concentration of available budgets that favor television. Advertising clients are seeking leverage and high return on their investment.

New legislation on product placement helps our clients and broadcasters to develop new ways to present their brands and products. After two years of economic crisis, we’re starting to see some categories bounce back in terms of spending compared to 2009/10, such as the automotive industry and retail banking.

Why do you think TV Nova is able to maintain such a strong leadership position?

Because of the strength of our brand and our strong programming schedule, we meet audience demands for quality entertainment and fiction; our local content is the most watched in the Czech Republic. We also have extremely talented and creative people working within our organization, who produce the quality products our audience expects from us.

What do you think Czech viewers are looking for in their programming? Are there any trends?

In the Czech market, the clear driver of audience is local content.  The keystone of this is our strong news program, where our flagship 19:30 broadcast continues to achieve audience shares well above 50%. We’ve extended this to four extra broadcasts per day, starting with a morning show, again at noon, then at 17:00 and ending with a more casual format at 22:30 each weeknight.

Our strong local fiction utilizes the best local talent, evidenced by our long-running daily series  The Street (Ulice), which is already in its 6th year, prime time drama Rose Garden Medical  (Ordinace v růžové zahradě), crime series Kriminalka Andel (CSI: Andel), sitcom Comeback  and TV movie series Private Traps (Soukromé pasti).  We are the front-runners in entertainment, providing our audience the best international formats like Idol (Česko-Slovenská Superstar) , as well as homegrown formats produced by, Media Pro Entertainment, such as Talentmania.

The biggest trend, of course, is the move away from simply being a broadcaster to being able to provide our viewers with the content they want in the time and format that they want it. Voyo, our video-on-demand service, has already proved to be a great way to monetize content as well as being popular with the public.

What impact has Media Pro Entertainment had on TV Nova?

Nova has always had a strong history of producing its own content; this local talent and knowledge has remained and become a part of Media Pro Entertainment. The new situation represents a good way to co-ordinate with the other markets, gives us access to a wider pool of creative talent.

It will also provide us with additional distribution opportunities and therefore opportunities to monetize content. For example MPE recently sold the format rights to a Czech fiction crime series, Organized Crime Unit (Expozitura), to both the US/Canada market and to the  Russia/CIS market  and have in the past sold finished products like Rose Garden Medical and Sunday League (Okresní přebor) to several European countries. 

Content

A Message From Senior Vice President of Content, Andrei Boncea Media Pro Entertainment continued to strengthen its talent base and focused on developing breakthrough content for prime time in all our territories. Media Pro Entertainment and Media Pro Music were in the spotlight with the theatrical release of our first movie in Czech Republic, a new comedy in Romania and with the outstanding smashing worldwide dance hit of our music division. The weight of our distribution arm changed considerably with the acquisition of Bontonfilm, creating exciting opportunities for our division to develop, produce and distribute fiction entertainment in our largest market, the Czech Republic.

New Fiction Series in Croatia Following the huge success of The Best Years, which had a 31% audience share in Q1, Media Pro Entertainment has finished the production of another prime-time drama. Due to be aired on Nova TV this fall, Lara’s Choice (Larin izbor) is a story of love overcoming all obstacles. The drama focuses on the story of Lara and Jaša, who are separated by the sea when Jaša has to leave on a long journey, leaving Lara at the mercy of her evil mother-in-law. The series promises a roller-coaster ride of emotional highs and lows as it examines the subtle manner in which faith influences the characters. Filmed on location on the stunning Croatian coastline, the film casts such prominent Croatian actors as Ivan Herceg, Ecija Ojdanić and Marija Kohn and sees the debut of young actress Doris Pinčić in the leading role.

Media Pro Entertainments First Short Film Wins Award Bora Bora, a short movie made by Media Pro Entertainment, won an award for the best short movie at the Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF). The movie won part of its funding from the Romanian National Romanian Cinematography Centre in 2009. Media Pro Entertainment topped up the funding by attracting the support of several advertising agencies. The film's director, Bogdan Mirica, comes from an advertising background and was once BBDO’s youngest European Creative Director. Working under the guidance of Media Pro Entertainment, he developed the idea for the film and, once funding was secured in August 2010, began shooting. The movie focuses on the story of a poverty-stricken fisherman who accidently becomes a marijuana grower. The movie was first shown to the public in April this year and won the TIFF award in June. In addition to the trophy, the director received €1,500 from L’Oreal and a free day of shooting at Media Pro Studios for future projects.

New Media A Message From the Head of New Media, Robert Berza We warmed up for the summer season with a major project in Croatia, that has already shown results: News portal Dnevnik has had a consistent positive trend since the re-launch, the iPhone app already garnered 20,000 downloads and an iPad application will be available. We launched Voyo in Croatia in July with positive feedback from the industry. We just launched Voyo in Romania and will shortly roll out Voyo in our remaining territories. Everywhere else, business as usual: keeping a healthy growth year-on-year in terms of daily and monthly traffic and preparing for new launches and, above all, a strong autumn.

Dnevnik.hr Continues to Innovate Croatian news website Dnevnik.hr launched a popular iPhone application, a new website redesign and user-generated news content, all in the month of June. Within 24 hours of its launch, the Dnevnik.hr iPhone application became the most popular application in the Croatian AppStore. Developed in-house by CME’s Croatian Internet Business Unit, the application was downloaded by more than 10,000 users in its first two weeks. The iDopisnik/Reports iPhone application provides up-to-the-minute news reports and enables users to generate their own news by sending their photos, videos or stories directly to the Dnevnik.hr news desk. The portal, which was the first to provide online video news in Croatia, celebrated its fifth birthday on July 10. Developed by the Nova TV Internet Business Unit, it has become an innovative portal with a tradition of developing and improving the standard of the Croatian internet environment. Also in June, Dnevnik.hr launched a new version of it news website, which now includes showbiz video chat and a sports section where users can post questions and interview guests themselves. Dnevnik.hr picked up an award last year for its mobile site, which enables the easy download of content to mobile phones. The judges of the VIDI Magazine VIDI Web Top 100 internet award deemed the site best in the mobile services category in 2009.

Bulgarian Web Success BTV’s Internet Business Unit (bWEB) scooped up two prizes in June at the Bulgarian Web Awards. bWEB was nominated in five categories, but the websites that caught the judge’s attention were the portal btv.bg and the website of the hit series Citizens in Excess, stolichani.btv.bg. Both sites won awards in the Culture and Arts category. In May, bWEB was ranked fifth among all Bulgarian internet publishers in terms of traffic (real users, page views and reach), according to online research company Gemius. Also worth mentioning was the rise of btv.bg in the monthly website rankings. After three consecutive years at Number 3, the website moved to second place, according to Gemius. “Audience growth in recent months is the result of our continued efforts to offer up-to-date information and entertainment across many content categories. The forthcoming launch of key online products will strengthen bTV's position as a leading publisher with a diversified portfolio and an ever-growing visitor base,” said Alexander Shumarski, Head of Internet, bTV Media Group

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