The representation of thematic TV stations by Atmedia is also experiencing a growing demand for TV advertising that exceeds its capacity this year. The recent expansion of the number of stations represented by FilmBox Stars, Canal+ Action, Spectrum Home and Warner TV is reflected in a higher share of viewership, but also with higher interest from sponsors. Up to a fifth of GRPs do not fit on the stations.
"A larger number of TV stations brings us not only a higher share of viewership, but especially more space for advertising campaigns. This year, for example, we are offering TV advertisers about 8% more advertising inventory than last year," describes Michaela Suráková, managing director of Atmedia. She added that demand for TV advertising has been at a record high, especially in recent years, and any increase in advertising space from TV advertisers is welcome.
Atmedia expects high demand for TV advertising in the upcoming autumn season as well. "The situation will be similar to last year. At least the figures for September show this, when despite the increase in advertising inventory this year, we are unable to place about 20% of orders on our TV stations," said the head of Atmedia. Atmedia expects a similar overhang of demand in October and November. "Given this situation, we will be advising TV advertisers to spread their investment in TV advertising over several months of the year as part of negotiations for next year," she outlined. It also expects the price of TV advertising to rise across the market next year.
Atmedia's market share is growing
Atmedia represents a total of 25 thematic TV stations and has an average 6.4% share of viewership this year (source: ATO-Nielsen, January-August 2024, CS 18-69). This represents a year-on-year increase of ten per cent, driven by the addition of Warner TV to the portfolio, as well as growing viewer interest in movie, lifestyle and sports channels.
"There are several reasons behind this relatively significant increase. The first one is undoubtedly the expansion of the portfolio by Warner TV," Suráková adds, noting that the new film and series TV channel reaches an average of almost 800,000 viewers aged 4+ per month.
The second reason behind the increase in Atmedia's share of viewership is the growing interest in certain thematic channels on the part of TV viewers. "For example, movie channels such as AXN, Canal+ Action, FilmBox Stars and Film+ are doing well in the year-on-year comparison," Suráková said. Other examples are lifestyle channels Spektrum Home and TLC or documentary TV station Discovery Channel, and given the sports year, Eurosport 1 is also doing well.
TV market with further inflation
The pressure on advertising space was confirmed by MediaGuru.cz and the two main players in the commercial TV market. The commercial director of the Nova group, Jan Ulrych, expects a further increase in TV advertising prices for 2025, while the commercial director of the Prima group , Vladimír Pořízek, has announced that Prima intends to increase prices by 20%.
Source: mediaguru.cz
