The strongest commercial player in the Czech TV market, TV Nova, continues to feel pressure on its advertising space and has announced that the price for TV advertising in linear broadcasting will continue to rise. In the first half of the year, TV Nova registered a growth in demand for TV advertising placements from a number of product segments, and new clients are also entering the TV advertising business. So far, all indications are that the demand will not slow down for the second half of the year either, TV Nova's sales director Jan Ulrych told MediaGuru.cz.
Therefore, some clients have already started negotiating the terms and booking additional advertising space to secure the necessary advertising capacity. However, the price of additional inventory is increasing. Combined with other factors, this means that for 2025 the price of TV advertising will increase. "The increasing demand for inventory, the rising costs in the production of shows and the continuous decline in the overall viewership of linear broadcasting is a combination that does not even allow for a different approach," explains Jan Ulrych. Yet already for this year, TV advertising prices were on average 18% higher according to the price list.
In addition, TV Nova is not ruling out a change in its target audience after many years. Its target group is still 15-54, but it is considering adjusting it to better reflect the primary audience of linear TV.
You can read the full answers to questions for TV Nova's chief commercial officer Jan Ulrych below.
Questions for Jan Ulrych
How do you assess the first six months of the TV advertising market?
Very successfully. We are seeing an increase in demand from clients across virtually all segments on advertising volumes. Significantly growing segments are retail chains, food, beverages, e-commerce, home appliances, cosmetics and toiletries. We are also seeing growth in the number of new clients in the TV market with smaller annual advertising investment volumes who have not previously used TV as a communications medium. This is always a good signal not only for us but for the market as a whole.
What does this mean for the development of TV advertising in the second half of the year?
All indications are that demand will not weaken in the second half of the year. Some clients are already negotiating terms and booking incremental additional advertising space with us beyond their annual or other contracts at this time. This is based on the experience of last year and the sell-out rate in the autumn. They want to prioritize securing needed inventory.
Is it still the case that if clients enquire early, they can expect a price premium for additional money from TV Nova?
That situation has fundamentally changed year-over-year. On the contrary, the price of additional inventory is increasing. Still, it makes sense for clients to secure communications in advance and thus be assured of sufficient planned communications needs at the most exposed time of the year. It is still the case that in the first place we satisfy clients who have already signed up a volume of investments with us.
TV Nova's sell-out rate is growing significantly this year. So how do you see the development in the coming months?
We are achieving high sell-out rates due to growing client demand and the situation will not change in the coming period. However, we will still be able to deliver almost all the campaigns we have contracted and thus satisfy the complete demand of our clients. It is still crucial for us to be a stable and committed partner for our clients. We consider this to be one of our competitive advantages.
How do you perceive the market situation, with a large number of tenders expected for media buying in the coming year as well?
It is true that a large number of tenders are also reported this year. Media agencies are thus under a lot of pressure. They know that year-on-year price drops even in the Czech Republic are a thing of the past and TV stations have to raise prices. Often agencies are forced to subsidise the price in the case of multi-year representation, where it is very difficult to estimate future inflation in the years to come.
What about commercial policy for 2025? Are you going to make it more expensive again?
Another price increase is unfortunately inevitable. Increasing demand for inventory, rising costs in the production of shows, and the continuous decline in overall linear viewership is a combination that doesn't even allow for any other approach. We know that this is painful for many clients, which is why we continue to invest significantly and offer the highest quality attractive programming. At the same time, we and our clients recognise that linear TV is still a very powerful communication tool for mass and rapid reach that cannot yet be replaced by any other media type.
Last year Prima adjusted its buying target group, raising it from 15-69 to 18-69 . Is TV Nova also considering a change?
Yes. We are also working with this option for next year. The market is changing and we want to focus on the target group consuming linear broadcasting.
When will the new commercial policy be published?
We will present the commercial policy again this year in the first half of October, as we did last year.
Source: mediaguru.cz
