The Nova group plans to make significant investments in the production of new content for its Voyo platform. There should be from 15 to 20 new formats produced every year. Voyo should become a dominant player on the local market that wants to compete using its exclusive original and acquired content. Its ambition is that the platform will have about a million subscribers in Czechia and Slovakia within five years. Didier Stoessel, the new head of the CME group, said that at a meeting with media journalists today.
Nova is searching for talents from the production business and independent producers. Stoessel admitted that a number of them will come from Nova’s competitor - Česká televize. “I told everyone to address three best people on the market they know. And of course, this includes people from Česká televize,” said Stoessel who has managed TV companies within the group in Czechia, Sovakia, Romania and Slovenia since CME was acquired by the PPF group, which was formerly owned by the departed Petr Kellner.
The key purpose is that Voyo not only attracts the existing TV Nova viewers but primarily addresses younger generations, e.g. millenials (refer to the interview with the CMO of TV Nova Jakub Strýček/MAM No. 14). The platform will offer much diverse and better targeted content than before. It will include original series and films produced locally as well as adapted reality show formats and various exclusive documentaries. A new series should premiere on Voyo every month. The cost of the service has remained the same so far.
“Content investments will increase by 30 percent year on year. We seek to be among the top three streaming services on the market,” said Stoessel, adding that the platform has grown strongly, namely in the last two months.
One of the first attractions should be the reality show Love Island. Its casting starts today. The show should be available on Voyo on a daily basis. Some parts of it are expected to be aired through Nova stations. The show produced by the British ITV, in which young people are looking for love, is most popular mainly with young female viewers. The show should be broadcast in the autumn.
Stoessel also commented on the main TV Nova station. The group wants to offer a more diverse programme schedule and dominate in other air times, not just prime time. “We do not want people leaving around 10 pm and so we will present other new formats. We still remain a family-focused station but we have to innovate,” he added. He also admitted that the legendary series Ordinace v růžové zahradě could come back in its revamped form despite the claimed culmination and termination of the show.
He confirmed that TV Nova’s news platform Tn.cz would undergo an extensive change as the platform needs a radical upgrade. Its new design should be completed in September.
No “Czechflix” at the moment
Stoessel also did not exclude establishing a non-linear platform Czechflix going forward, which was mentioned by Petr Dvořák, the CEO of Česká televize, for the Euro weekly. At the end of the last year, Prima’s CEO Marek Singer confirmed a similar plan to MAM. “The Czech broadcasters face a huge task - get prepared for the invasion of global streaming services. I believe that the examples of cooperation of big broadcasters in Germany or France show us the right direction,“ he wrote. Stoessel does not think that it is the right time for the endeavour. At the moment, he wants to concentrate on Voyo and the relating massive production of new content.
Source: mam.cz
