GetOnTop

In 2009 the Romanian television market was significantly marked by the economic crisis that affected the whole continent. But, although all TV channels became very careful with new investments and cost reductions, still it was quite a dynamic year, in which all actors on the market struggled to consolidate their position. For this reason the competition between different media groups increased, along with concentrated efforts to gain audience share and advertising budgets.
There was no change of leader regarding TV audience share. Pro TV, channel owned by Central European Media Enterprises (CME) dominated the market, with 14.5 share on Adults 18+ and 17.2 on the commercial target (18-49 Urban including guests). Its success was based on sports events, such as UEFA Champions’ League, international blockbusters and entertainment formats, like Dancing with the Stars, but its main 7 o’clock news programs also had excellent audience. Antena 1, with 11.6 share, part of Intact Media, secured the second place with local entertainment formats, the domestic football championship matches and movies. On the second place acceded Realitatea TV, which previously was on the 5th place in 2008, a news channel, which concentrated on domestic affairs, politics and debates, with a 6.3 share. The 4th place has been occupied by the public channel TVR1, with a share of 5.4 while Acasa TV demonstrated the appetence for soap operas of female audience, placing the channel on the 5th place in top, with 5.0 share.
There were no important moves as far as TV ownership is concerned, but there were some notable new channels launched. The most spectacular was the rebranding of the kids’ channel Jetix into Disney Channel, in September. This proved a very successful move, which immediately increased the channel’s audience, placing it on the 10th place on the whole TV market (0.61 rating on All Urban target), demonstrating the high potential of the thematic stations. Disney dominates the children’s TV market, followed by Cartoon Network (Turner) and Minimax (Chello Central Europe). A news sports channel was launched by the RCS-RDS group, Digi Sport, its main program anchor being matches from the national football championships (Liga1). NBC Universal brought to Romania Universal Channel, broadcasting movies and series, while the public television started TVR Info, a channel that is trying to fight in the news arena with Realitatea TV and Antena 3.
From the reception point of view, 2009 came to show the trend from the last years. Terrestrial reception continued its decrease, from 8.3 in 2008 to 7.3 in 2009, according to GfK Romania. On the other hand DTH penetration increased once again from 22.6 to 23.2. Digital emission is still in the development and so is the High Definition television, with increasing numbers of channels and TV providers adopting these standards. Still PVRs and IPTV does not have a significant penetration degree.
Viewers’ favorite program genres remained similar to 2008. The most important programs are sports, especially football, with matches from the qualifying rounds for the World Cup 2010 and the Champions’ League dominating the tops. US blockbusters were also ranked high while Romanian series scored better then imported titles. The news programs were dominated by the 7 o’clock bulletin on Pro TV, but the increased audience of news channels like Antena 3 and Realitatea TV show that Romanian public becomes more and more interested in information and infotainment productions.
Romania is continuing to adapt its regulations with the European legislation. Starting from 2009 commercial TV channels were allowed to broadcast split-screen advertising and several stations took advantage on this opportunity, but it is still restricted on the public TVs. Also product placement was permitted, there were no important investments in this form of advertising.
The TV advertising market was deeply shaken by the economic recession, with clients cutting budgets and organizing pitches in order to get the best prices. The whole TV market decreased with almost 34% (Initiative Media estimate) and all channels were affected. Negotiations with agencies were rough, the big stations came with special offers which lowered prices further more. On the other hand advertisers migrated from one agency to another in their attempt to obtain better conditions.  The situation tended to become less difficult by the end of the year, but predictions for 2010 are still pessimistic, due to the economic context and the fact that Romania will have to meet another recession year.