ACT is evolving its name and is now officially the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe.

The addition of Video on Demand to the Association’s name reflects the ACT memberships’ leading and central role as providers of VoD Services; whilst maintaining its ongoing attachment to its core broadcasting identity, declares Grégoire Polad, the General Director of ACT.

The media landscape is a dynamic environment with ACT members at the forefront of providing a diversity of innovative services that are at the heart of media pluralism and cultural diversity. Media is on the move, and so is the ACT. As the voice of TV and VoD in Europe, we continue to constructively engage and provide expertise and representation on the exciting issues facing the media space.

www.acte.be

Ordinace v růžové zahradě is the blockbuster series offered by the paid video platform Voyo. However, it is not known how many viewers it has attracted.

Ordinace v růžové zahradě, which is only run on Voyo starting from this autumn, is the most watched programme within the paid internet service’s offering. Daniel Grunt, Head of Digital of TV Nova, said that at the Digimedia conference on Wednesday. However, he neither revealed how many subscribers the medical-drama series had brought to Voyo nor did he say how many people subscribed to Voyo.

He only said that the development of subscribers was above the plans. Moving Ordinace to Voyo has also not resulted in TV Nova’s viewer cannibalisation. Daniel Grunt admitted that most viewers watched the series on Voyo at times when it was originally broadcast, i.e. on Thursdays from 8 pm.  

Nova has previously announced that it would like to attract a million Voyo subscribers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia within five years. The plan is based on the changes in video content consumption. Nova also expects the market of paid video services (SVOD) to grow. It estimates its size at 20% at the moment and assumes a growth to 40% by 2025. “We know from research that people watch video content eight hours a day. Linear TV accounts for more than half of the figure. User behaviour has been changing substantially. Paid services, such as Netflix or HBO Go, are growing and we want to be successful in the competition with foreign players in the long term,” said Grunt. Moreover, entry of another global competitor is expected next year.

Nova continues to invest in the original production only intended for Voyo. At the end of the year, it wants to release one or two miniseries to be placed on this video platform only. Next year, it plans to launch at least 12 new shows just on Voyo.

Source: mediaguru.cz

The iPrima application available in Prima’s HbbTV has a new design. The group has also launched a new advertising format in HbbTV.

The flag ship of Prima’s HbbTV, the iPrima application, has a new version of link site. Nearly 500 thousand viewers visit iPrima in HbbTV per month according to Prima. The most watched programmes include series (Slunečná) and other shows produced by TV Prima. Viewers also have the option to buy previews and films.

“In the new application, we rely on more sophisticated recommendations via ‘Similar Shows’. This option allows viewers to get inspired to watch additional content. Moreover, we expanded the offering to include new sections, such as news overview or video recipes,” says Kateřina Srbová, HbbTV Manager of Prima.

A new functionality ‘Thematic Channels’ was added. It was tested and brought to live broadcasting. It offers complete playlists of programmes with similar topics without the need to search and select. Programmes are grouped into 22 thematic units and viewers can select them as part of the application or directly in linear broadcasting. When a programme ends, viewers can use the red button to go to the playlist containing similar programmes. They can watch favourite shows irrespective of the TV schedule.

The advertising format Dynamic Switch-In is the new feature that Media Club includes in its offering this autumn. “It is the red button connected to client data via API allowing to make changes in creative values in real time. This format should primarily address clients using creative values that often change – be it prices, rates or prizes. When using the dynamic format, you do not have to always provide new creative but you can still display updated information,” explains Petr Hatlapatka, Head of Online Sales in Media Club.

The creative of the red button is made in the Kinet Creator application that Media Club’s clients can use to create HbbTV applications.

Source: mediaguru.cz

Five times more households receive a TV signal through the internet now than five years ago. This is one of the findings disclosed at the Digimedia conference on Wednesday.

Today, five times more households receive a TV signal through IPTV than five years ago. Their share has grown from four to 22%. Terrestrial broadcasting remains the dominant platform. It is used by 55% of households, which is three percentage points less. These are the findings of continuous research that is part of measuring by ATO-Nielsen Admosphere. The data was presented at the Digimedia conference on Wednesday.

All major mobile operators offer IPTV and the share of this platform has exceeded both cable and satellite TV. Viewing via satellites or cable networks has decreased by six percentage points since 2016. The share of satellites declined to 21% while cable networks fell from 20% to 14%.

The share of Czech households having their TV connected to the internet has grown to 44% in this second quarter. The percentage more than doubled over the last five years, said Tomáš Hynčica from Nielsen Admosphere at the conference. The data also comes from the continuous research by ATO-Nielsen Admosphere. He added that one fifth of the Czech online population met HbbTV (22% in the second quarter of 2021).

According to Tereza Šimečková from Nielsen Admosphere, TV viewing has grown by three minutes to four hours and two minutes. There was a great leap between 2019 and 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. At that time, viewing rose by 17 minutes per day. 92% of households have at least one TV set. Their number has fallen by four percentage points over the last ten years as people start using PCs, tablets or mobile phones to receive a TV signal. 

Transition to the new terrestrial digital broadcasting standard DVB-T2 was completed last year. Vít Vážan, CEO of České Radiokomunikace, said that the transition to DVB-T2 caused difficulties with receiving a signal within extensive single-frequency networks, for example when the weather worsens. The Czech Telecommunication Office (ČTÚ) established a workgroup to address the situation.

Source: mediaguru.cz

The volume of monitored media ad investments for the first eight months of this year remains above the last year’s comparable period, indicates the data of Nielsen Admosphere.

The volume of monitored media ad investments for the first eight months of this year remains above the last year’s comparative period. According to Nielsen Admosphere’s monitoring, it is six percent up on average in the monitored above-the-line media. The monitoring shows the highest year-on-year growth in print media and TV followed by radio. In August, investments in all monitored media types grew according to the monitoring, with the highest increase in OOH.

The overview does not cover development in the internet advertising because ad monitoring only covers a portion of internet formats. Data on investment monitoring does not express the actual amount of investments that the media generate from advertising. It is the assessment of ad space based on price list costs.

Source: mediaguru.cz

TV Nova launched a new breaking news functionality thanks to which viewers watching linear TV can click through to more information.

In line with its digital strategy, TV Nova is working on the development of HbbTV (the red button). Last week, it introduced a new breaking news functionality in linear broadcasting. It is a bar on the screen allowing to inform viewers on recent events. TV Nova announced to be able to reach up to 424 thousand unique users in HbbTV in a given moment.

The new functionality first appeared in connection with the information on President Miloš Zeman being admitted to hospital. The breaking news bar is a push notification that displays on a TV screen for 30 seconds in the form of a short message with an option to click through to an article. “The news gets to TV broadcasting within several seconds from being input in the system. It is distributed through the hybrid layer,” said Kamil Houska, Head of News of TV Nova.

By pressing the blue button on their remote controls, viewers can learn more information by clicking through to the HbbTV application TN.cz. The interactive breaking news bar is displayed on TV devices with an HbbTV function.

It is another functionality that Nova develops in HbbTV after Daniel Grunt’s becoming the Head of Digital. In the past two months, the streaming service Voyo launched a new advertising format Max Reach within HbbTV. Max Reach works with the fact whether or not (the specific condition may be set up) a TV device viewed certain content, e.g. an advertising spot. Thanks to the information, the red button targets specific devices depending on the set up condition.

The reach of the red button on Nova Group’s stations exceeds 2.2 million viewers according to Nova’s statement referring to internal data and a research made by České Radiokomunikace.

Source: mediaguru.cz

The TV Nova group rebranded its Nova 2 channel to Nova Fun on Monday, 20 September. It also adjusted the logo and programme schedule of the Nova Action channel.

On Monday, 20 September, the TV Nova group rebranded its Nova 2 channel to Nova Fun. It also adjusted the logo and programme schedule of the Nova Action channel.

The Big Bang Theory, Friends, Two and a Half Men and The Middle will continue to be the pillars of Nova Fun. Love Island is a new reality show in the offering and other formats will be added. The channel is going to build on entertaining shows.

Nova Action’s content will focus more on male viewers. All new shows will premiere at 8 pm. Monday will bring investment reality shows Dragon’s Den and Shark Tank. Tuesday is dedicated to Diesel Brothers. The premiere season of NCIS: New Orleans VI is scheduled for Monday. On Thursday, the TV screen is reserved for global war films, e.g. Red Tails, Battle of Midway, Memphis Belle, The Dirty Dozen or Battle of the Bulge. On Friday night, there will be a documentary reality show on Australian border checks at airports Border Security: Australia’s Front Line. Saturday evening maps the environment of a special forces unit of the British Army  SAS: Who Dares Wins UK. Sunday night will offer a documentary series Declassified: Untold Stories of American Spies.  

Nova Action continues to broadcast series such as Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei, Storage Wars or Pawn Stars.

The London agency Red Bee Media takes patronage over the graphic and concept part of the changes. It worked on similar projects, for example, for Universal TV, Discovery+, AMC Networks International or BBC.

Source: mediaguru.cz

Traditional broadcasters are being forced to rethink their commercial revenue strategy as viewing shifts from free-to-air (FTA) linear television to BVOD.

Deloitte has released the 10th edition of its Media Consumer Survey of 2,000 people, drilling down into Australian digital entertainment audience preferences.

The separation of “free” broadcast viewing from paid viewing is becoming smaller as broadcasters and entertainment services look to move audiences more seamlessly between free and paid content, says Deloitte.

“With FTA TV maintaining its dominance in people’s lives and with its expansion into BVOD, there are plenty of opportunities to use this as a driver towards subscription and pay-per-view content to maximise value from audiences,” says Deloitte.

But what about advertising?

Overall, almost half (47%) of respondents indicated they would be willing to view advertising in exchange for a 30% discount on their subscription.

Younger generations are particularly amenable, with 56% of Millennials and 54% of Gen Z willing to expose themselves to commercial messages compared to only 18% of matures.

This model is an evolution to the “freemium” offer of services such as Spotify, which offer ad-funded models as a free or cheaper alternative to an ad-free paid subscription version.

FTA TV remains the overall top home entertainment activity with 63% of respondents ranking it in their most frequent home entertainment activities.

The way we watch is changing with matures (100%) and Boomers (95%) almost exclusively watching on a television.

However, Millennials (20%) and Gen Z (16%) lead the way on laptop and mobile viewing.

“Free-to-air TV ads remain the strongest to influence buyer decisions, with 17% of respondents indicating they are highly likely to engage with advertising on television,” says Deloitte.

“But as free-to-air viewing shifts from live television to BVOD on devices, particularly for younger generations, willingness to engage with advertisements may be a challenge.”

Respondents were not enthusiastic about engaging with advertisements on smartphones (20%) or laptops (12%).

Younger generations are keener. Gen Z is most likely to engage with ads on smartphones (40%), compared to television (20%) and laptops (20%), and 15% of Gen Z indicated location-based mobile adverts influence them, compared to only 1% of Matures.

Deloitte says advertising revenue will continue to be a critical revenue stream for both individual services and entertainment ecosystems, providing a valuable supplement to subscriptions.

However, striking the right balance in the use of personal data, and targeting the right demographics on the right devices will be critical.

“And let’s not forget the power of ad-avoidance in driving audiences towards lucrative subscription revenue; for some particularly intolerant audiences, an ad-free alternative to an advertising-heavy offering may be the best subscription acquisition too,” says Deloitte.

Source: adnews.com.au

At present, inflation in the Czech Republic reaches the highest values in more than a decade. Its growth will be reflected in the prices of media services.

According to the Czech Statistical Office (CSO), consumer prices have grown 4.1 % year on year in August, which has been the highest increase since November 2008. This development was driven by the prices of goods and services of nearly all sections of the consumer basket. The Czech National Bank (CNB) announced that the year-on-year growth in prices in August was one percentage point faster than predicted by the CNB’s latest forecast. After the removal of anti-epidemic measures, the surge of consumer demand results in higher prices, predominantly in the sector of services, explains CNB.

According to economists, inflation will continue to grow in the following months. “From local factors, the post-Covid price increase in some services or fast growth in property prices, which is reflected in inflation through higher prices of imputed rent, are likely to continue for some time. The price pressures relating to the development on global markets will be influenced by high prices of food, international transport, electricity, gas and other raw and other material,” said Patrik Rožumberský, UniCredit Bank’s analyst.

Miroslav Novák, analyst in Akcenta, predicts that the year-on-year inflation growth will be about four percent at least until the end of this year. A short-term increase to five percent also cannot be excluded. Radomír Jáč, Chief Economist of Generali Investments CEE, is of a similar opinion. “Towards the end of the year, year-on-year inflation may grow above 4.5 percent,” said Jáč.

In the long-term, the growing inflation may impact the prices of media services. According to Pavel Ryska, analyst in J&T, the prices of media services may grow faster due to the growth in consumer prices. “I believe that in the long-term, prices including the media ones will be affected predominantly by the rapid money expansion currently experienced by the Czech economy. The money volume in the Czech economy is growing due to the monetary policy easing by about 10 % per year. To put it simple, it is a rate at which the capability of economic entities to accept higher prices is growing. The current inflation of consumer prices is probably not at its high. At the end of the year, we expect about a five-percent growth. The price growth may accelerate also in media services, which may be driven by their cyclic nature,” he explains.

The rising inflation has an impact on the increase in the costs of human resources, i.e. also on the rise of the costs of media content production. Many foreign film and series production firms shoot in the Czech Republic, which increases the cost of production. Print periodical publishers are facing the growing paper prices. The paper industry addresses the changes caused by the pandemic that resulted in fluctuations of cellulose supply. According to the Czech Statistical Office’s data, the prices in the wood, print and paper sector increased by 24 percent in August. At the same time, there is lack of paper. Some book publishers have already announced that they need to delay the print of their planned book editions. They will also have to reduce the number of book copies intended for Christmas sale.

Together with the growing demand for advertising space, another factor influences media companies, which may affect their pricing for the next year. Economic recovery and clients’ ad spend shifted to the second half of this year increase the pressure on ad space. The growing demand on TV as well as on the internet and in radio stations often exceeds demand before 2020, i.e. before Covid. 

View of Pavel Ryska, analyst, J&T

In the environment of growing inflation rate, the media segment has an advantage that it is not directly exposed to items whose prices grow the most this year. It is a typical development when in the initial phase of the cycle, prices of commodities such as material, energy, etc. grow the most. That is why production companies are likely to be affected. However, in the longer term, higher inflation may hit all industries, including media. Higher commodity prices are already reflected in the growing prices of consumer goods, which may finally result in higher wage requirements across the economy. It is the labour cost that I believe may affect expenses of the media.   

In respect of the costs of media services, I would expect development to follow the economic cycle in the short term. Czech economy experiences recovery. In particular the demand for advertising is usually very cyclic. Some media types (print media, internet and OOH) may profit from the elections to the Chamber of Deputies this year, which tend to temporarily increase the demand for advertising and, as a result, the prices.

I think that in the long term, the rapid money expansion experienced now in the Czech Republic will have a major effect on prices including the media ones. The volume of money in the Czech economy is growing by about 10 % per year due to the eased monetary policy. In a simplified view, we can understand it as the rate at which the capability of economic entities to accept higher prices is growing. The current inflation of consumer prices of 4.1% is likely not to be at its high and at the year end, we expect a rate of about 5%. The growth may accelerate in the prices of media services, which may be facilitated by their cyclic nature.

Source: mediaguru.cz