Central European TV markets

With various media groups in a race to acquire interests in Central Europe, it’s time to take the territory seriously.

Central and eastern Europe (CEE) comprises 15 to 20 countries depending on the definition (this report excludes Russia, Greece and Turkey). In ad revenue terms, by far the biggest market is Poland at $4bn (£2bn), followed by Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Indeed, Poland and Hungary now rank sixth and seventh in terms of TV ad spend for the whole of Europe.

In terms of ad expenditure and subscription revenue, CEE has been growing steadily for more than 10 years – with ZenithOptimedia forecasting the ad market will double between now and 2012, taking it to around $15bn (£7.7bn).

This is driving TV expansion, with numerous domestic and regional channels launching. There is also a move by Western groups to acquire key assets. Pay-TV is doing well, with around 30% of homes connected to cable or satellite.

Analysis

Eastern Europe is booming, which explains why channels are popping up all over the region. It also explains why Europe’s major media companies are buying up businesses in the region – previous attempts in the 1980s and 1990s proved, in many cases, premature.

Sweden’s Modern Times Group (MTG) has already made impressive inroads into the Baltics. But now it has set its sights on the Balkans with the purchase of a 50% stake in Bulgaria’s Balkan Media Group – a business that runs six channels across two businesses (Diema Vision and Television MM).

That deal gives MTG access to around 70% of the country’s 3.1 million TV homes (with market ad spend of around $400m/£204m per annum).