DOES VIDEO Kill the TV (STAR)? REPORT 2018 THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE DOES VIDEO Kill the TV (STAR)? 4 30 36 40 RUSSIAN DIGITAL MARKET THE WECAN BLURRING WHEN TELLY PLAYS –BEYOND BORDERS RANKING 2018 LINES ON HOME TURF 44 52 60 68 CON ALMOST FAMOUS CZECH REPUBLIC HUNGARY UKRAINE 76 84 92 100 SERBIA POLAND RUSSIA CROATIA TEN 108 116 128 136 SLOVAKIA THE BALTICS SLOVENIA BULGARIA ESTONIA• LATVIA• LITHUANIA 144 152 162 164 BOSNIA AND ROMANIA WECAN AFFILIATE WECAN BOARD HERZEGOVINA NETWORK MEMBERS TS 168 CONTRIBUTORS 4 RUSSIAN DIGITAL MARKET – BEYOND BORDERS 1 30 THE WECAN RANKING 2018 RUSSIAN DIGITAL MARKET –BEYOND BORDERS MEDIA AND ADVERTISING MARKET TRENDS IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE IN 2017 BÖBE BARSI Böbe had been a freelance journalist during university, and after obtaining her degree, 2017 and 2018 was another tense period of Russia’s of cyberattacks, assumedly originated in Russia. NATO’s SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS she wrote articles and did research for Hungarian, English and Spanish news sites and attempts to expand its influence and the responsive measures Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence (based MANAGER magazines. Later, she worked at a PR agency on clients like IKEA, Airbnb and Telenor. weCAN of the West. In this soft-power war with labeling, threatening in Riga) conducts a research, among others, on the use She has been weCAN’s Communications Manager for four years, and during this time, and expelling each other’s media and digital services as of information as a weapon, and would not have come she has managed projects crossing many geographical borders. She is the editor of a common practice, battles are often fought in the Central into existence without the need of conscious handling the present editorial report. and Eastern European media markets. of Russian influence in the Baltic states. [email protected] It is particularly true in the Baltics, a direct neighbor of Another Central and Easter European frontline in these soft- Russia with a Russian ethnic population of hundreds of power struggles of superpowers is the Balkans. According thousands. One of the latest examples of Russian information to a think-tank study by the Center for Euro-Atlantic Studies, warfare in the Baltic states is that of BaltNews, a news site eight Russian web portals, six outlets and 16 local pro-Kremlin operating in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It had claimed news sources operate in Serbia. The West also fought back to be an independent medium until in August 2018, when with a soft-power weapon: seven years after it had been shut an investigative report revealed that the site’s owner was down in Belgrade, BBC reopened its Serbian-language service, actually Russian news agency Rossiya Segodnya. launching a website in March, 2018. DUE TO ITS GIGANTIC SIZE, THE RUSSIAN MARKET IMPACTS THE Baltic states intend to fight against the excessive Russian The significance of the Russian online segment is also obvious PERFORMANCE OF THE ENTIRE ADVERTISING ECONOMY OF CENTRAL influence using different instruments. The Estonian public when it comes to the region’s advertising economy. The Russian television, for instance, launched a Russian-language market attained an explosive growth in 2017, mainly thanks to AND EASTERN EUROPE. IN LINE WITH CURRENT TRENDS, THE AD MARKET channel in 2015 to balance Russian channels’ influence on the increase of digital advertising. Last year, the Russian online CONTINUED TO INCREASE IN MOST COUNTRIES OF CEE IN 2017, BUT the Russian-speaking population, while Lithuania's major advertising market grew by 700 million Euros, making up one online media outlets signed an agreement of cooperation with third of the ad spending growth of the whole region. NOWHERE ELSE DID IT BOOM AS MUCH AS IN RUSSIA, WHERE THE the ministry of defense trying to fend off a growing barrage DIGITAL SEGMENT WAS THE MAIN ENGINE OF GROWTH. BESIDES ITS GEOGRAPHICAL AND POLITICAL SIGNIFICANCE, RUSSIA BECAME A SUPER RUSSIAN MARKET IS THE ENGINE OF REGIONAL (DIGITAL) GROWTH POWER IN DIGITAL TERMS AS WELL: THE ONLINE ADVERTISING MARKET Last year, advertisers spent 2 billion Euros more than they did the previous year, so the value of the Central and Eastern INCREASED BY 700 MILLION EUROS IN ONE YEAR, MAKING UP ONE European advertising market reached 13 billion Euros in 2017. The growth of ad spending is mainly generated by that of the THIRD OF THE AD SPENDING GROWTH OF THE WHOLE REGION. Russian market, where advertising spending grew by 1.5 billion Euros in just one year. Observing the results of the last two years, it clearly stands out that the CEE ad market recovered from the setback that followed the Russian-Ukrainian crisis in 2015, and is now on a stable path of growth. In the recent years, it became apparent that Russia is determined to use online channels to influence public opinion – not only in the region but all around the world CEE TOTAL AD SPENDING 2014-2017 (NET, EUR, M) – and thus advance its own interests. In December 2017, the Russian Ministry of Justice declared nine publicly funded 14 000 000 000 13 023 900 000 American media outlets as foreign agents – after the USA registered Russian public 13 000 000 000 12 000 000 000 television and radio and news agency RT America as such because of the accusation 11 000 000 000 10 457 970 000 11 072 240 000 of meddling in the American presidential election. Only three months later, Russia 10 000 000 000 threatened to expel all British media as a response to Britain’s warning of stripping 9 000 000 000 9 939 590 000 Russian broadcaster RT of its UK operating license in case the government found 2014 2015 2016 2017 Moscow had been behind a chemical attack on a Russian ex-double-agent in England. The source of all data cited in this article is included in the country chapters, unless otherwise indicated. Source of ad spending figures from 2014, 2015 and 2016: CANnual Report 2015, CANnual Report 2016, CANnual Report 2017 6 7 The only market that outpaced the Russian growth in 2017 Agrokor’s estimated budget decreased to 5 million € in AD SPENDING BY MEDIA TYPES (NET, EUR) 2017 was the Ukrainian. Following a stagnation in 2015 (or a de- 2017 (by 50%, compared to 2016) and it ended the biggest TV Digital Press OOH Radio Other crease when measured in Euro), the local advertising industry Croatian agency that handled Agrokor’s account: Unex. Another grew by 27% in 2016 and by 40% (or 30% in Euro) last year. major event was Spar’s takeover of Billa (REWE Group): as Beside the significant increase of the two strongest media a result, another 2-million-€ yearly budget disappeared from types, TV and online, this outstanding figure is the conse- the market. Similarly to Croatia, the Agrokor-crisis also led 115 000 000 quence of a change of methodology in the OOH segment that to a decrease in the Bosnian market, where the group is 631 700 000 resulted in the doubling of OOH spending in the country. present with retail company Konzum. 1 069 700 000 In other markets, the growth-rate was between 5% and 14%, Thanks to a 15% growth rate, the Russian market reached 964 500 000 except in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, where advertisers 6.3 billion Euros in 2017, which is roughly the half of the total spent less than they did a year ago. The decreasing spending ad spending in the region. In terms of share of spending by in Croatia was the result of the Agrokor-crises. In Q1 of 2017, geographical areas, Russia and Ukraine make up 52.6% (6.8 5 321 500 000 Agrokor, the biggest Croatian company (with a 6.5-billion-€ billion Euros), followed by V4 countries with 36% (4.7 billion revenue and almost 60,000 employees across the region), Euros), South-East European countries with 9% (1.2 billion Euros) was on the brink of collapse, not being able to pay for their and finally the Baltic states with 2.5% (0.3% billion Euros). debts. It was a big shock for the media market, too, as AD SPENDING IN CEE AD SPENDING BY 4 921 500 000 COUNTRIES (NET, EUR) 2017 GEOGRAPHICAL AREA RU 6.3 billion RU+UKR PL+CZ+HU+SK RO+HR+BG+RS+SI+BA LT+LV+EE PL 2.2 billion It is worth noting that reaching this milestone would However, it is important to stress that digital considerably CZ 1.4 billion primarily the merit of the Russian market. Although digital lags behind television in most countries of CEE. The regional HU 681 million spending grows everywhere, the development was nowhere as average of share by media types reveals that television UKR 533 million 2.5% explosive as in Russia. Since 2015, the digital segment of this continues to make up 45% of the CEE ad pie, while one third of RO 385 million 9% country increased by 1 billion Euros that is more than the total the ad spending goes to online. For the first time, print decreased SK 346 million annual advertising spending of most countries in the region. to the level of outdoor spending, each media type reaching a 10% HR 211 million share, and the smallest piece is that of radio, with 6%. BG 186 million RS 181 million 52.6% SI 168 million 35.9 % LT 147 million EE 93 million THE AVERAGE SHARE OF MEDIA TYPES 6% LV 81 million TV Digital Press 10% BA 36 million OOH Radio % 10 45% Last year, 5.3 billion Euros went to TV-ads, which is 41% of the total regional ad spending, and 4.9 billion (or 38%) was spent on digital.