« back
Eastern European Hitmakers – Nova TV, Croatia
July 14, 2009, C21
EASTERN EUROPEAN HITMAKERS: Central European Media Enterprises' flagship Croation network Nova TV upped its audience figures in 2008, as it has vowed to do, and has made locally produced formats and fiction a priority. Martin Buxton reports .
Launched in 2000, Nova TV has been owned by Central European Media Enterprises since July 2004. It broadcasts for 21 hours a day and reaches roughly 89% of Croatia's 4.6 million population.
Being a free-to-air advertising-supported general entertainment channel, Nova TV's schedule features a broad mix of genres, including locally produced news, formats and fiction. Programmes include crime investigation show Istraga, magazine programme Provjereno, variety show Nad Lipom 35, gameshow The Moment of Truth, showbiz magazine Red Carpet and central news Dnevnik Nove TV.
Sanja Cengic-Kulenovic (above), marketing director at TV Nova, says the channel targets as wide an audience as possible, with a core preference for 18-49s. "Our schedule is a combination of all genres of programming, taking into account current trends and audience tastes," she explains.
Local programmes air alongside acquired international content, which accounts for about 64% of the schedule, such as Heroes, 30 Rock, Cashmere Mafia and Damages, and Hollywood movies.
Since the launch of rival commercial network RTL Televizija in April 2004, Nova TV has had to put up with second place in the Croatian TV league. However, in 2008 this was a close-run thing, with year-end results showing RTL's primetime lead reduced to 1.8 percentage points.
Last year, Nova TV increased its audience share by 20%, with a 22.5% cut of the ad-friendly 18-49 group, while RTL Televizija pulled in 25.9%. In primetime, Nova TV made even bigger strides, with a 28% spike in audience share to 25.3%, against RTL's 27.1%.
Cengic-Kulenovic says this has been achieved through the proliferation of locally produced acquired formats, including the launch of two reality-based formats in the first six months of 2008.
Two of the biggest home-grown successes of 2008 were reality format The Farm (above, Strix Television), which pulled in a 38.6% audience share during 2008, and singing contest Don't Forget the Lyrics (RDF USA, Brad Lachman Productions), on 27.3%.
According to Cengic-Kulenovic, in-house formats such as The Farm and Lyrics (below) helped push the channel's audience share for the first half of 2008 to 23%, compared with 18.3% for the same period in 2007.
"These programmes were the first TV formats in Croatia completely produced and aired in high definition. Additionally, in the fall for 2008, we did the same thing with the Shine Reveille format The Moment of Truth," she adds.
And The Moment of Truth (below) proved every bit as successful as The Farm and Lyrics, pulling in an audience share of 29.6%, leading to a proliferation of formats across genres. Since then the channel has acquired a raft of format options, securing rights to Hole in the Wall, My Dad is Better Than Your Dad and sitcom Married With Children (Bracne Vode).
"All of these locally produced programmes achieved expected or better than expected results, especially The Moment of Truth," says Cengic-Kulenovic. However, hinting at a preference for in-house production over commissioned, Cengic-Kulenovic points to one of the channel's less successful 2008 shows. "Local soap Zakon Ljubavi (Law of Love) was produced for us by an independent producer but didn't perform as we'd expect for a programme in its slot," she explains.
But while locally produced formats have helped lift the channel's audience share, its acquired content, in the form of US series, is proving just as capable of grabbing eyeballs, with top-scoring series including NCIS, Numb3rs, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Sex and the City, Nikita and Heroes.
In 2008, crime drama Numb3rs garnered a 26% share of the core target audience, while medical drama Grey's Anatomy and comedy Sex and the City pulled in 28.9% and 29.1% respectively. 1990s action series Nikita proved one of the biggest scripted hits, grabbing a 31% share. "Our acquired content plays an important part in the schedule and image of Nova TV," says Cengic-Kulenovic. "It plays a big part in the primetime and late-night schedule."
Looking ahead, 2009 has already seen the return of The Farm and Don't Forget The Lyrics, with new seasons of Moment of Truth, Bracne Vode and Hitna 94 (Emergency 911) set for the fall. "Our long-term strategy is to further our development of local in-house produced content, in particular series, comedies and telenovelas," says Cengic-Kulenovic.
For additional information, please contact:
Romana Wyllie
Vice President of Corporate Communications
Central European Media Enterprises
Krizeneckeho nam. 1078/5
152 00 Praha 5
Czech Republic
+420 242 465 525
romana.wyllie@cme-net.com
