Christmas period stands as one of the most favourite days of the year, particularly distinguished by high television viewership. For Czechs, the Christmas holidays are intricately associated with television viewing, whether it involves Christmas fairy tales or Czech and Czechoslovak cinematography classics. ‘Over the three Christmas bank holiday days – Christmas Eve and the two following Christmas Days – 8,7 million Czechs aged four and above turn on their TV sets, spending an average of more than 5,5 hours in front of their TV screen,’ explains Pavel Müller, Head of Research & Marketing at Atmedia – the media representative of nearly 30 thematic TV channels on the Czech market.[1]
Christmas Eve takes the lead as the day when Czechs do watch TV the most. Over the past three years, on December 24th, an average of over 8 million Czechs kicked back and watched TV for more than 6 hours. ‘That’s 2,5 hours longer than the average throughout the whole year. Without exception, Christmas Eve consistently stands out as being the only day in the entire year when television viewership exceeds 6 hours,’ notes Pavel Müller, referring to the official electronic audience measurement data. The viewership rankings also consistently feature the first Christmas Day, the second Christmas Day, and New Year’s Eve.[2]
Christmas Eve Sees an Uptick in TV Viewing, Particularly Among Families With Children
Relaxing in front of the TV is a widely embraced activity during the Christmas holidays for viewers of all age groups, including the youngest. As an example, within the demographic of TV viewers aged 15–24, an average of 66% tuned in on Christmas Eve over the past three years, devoting nearly 4 hours to their TV screen. In the 25–34 age bracket, around 75% did watch TV on Christmas Eve, clocking in at roughly 5,5 hours of viewing time. Even higher figures are linked to viewers aged 35–44, with 85% of them tuning in and spending over 6 hours with their eyes glued to their TV screen.
‘Television does play a crucial role in Christmas festivities for nearly everyone, particularly so for families with children. In contrast to viewers without kids, those with children do invest considerably more time into watching TV on Christmas Eve,’ asserts Pavel Müller. He further notes that viewers aged 25–44 with children under 14, did spend an average of 6,5 hours in front of their TV on Christmas Eve over the past three years, with an impressive 87% of them tuning in.[3]
Christmas Fairy Tales Often Kick off Right in the Morning
It isn’t just the evening when TV does take centre stage on Christmas Eve – viewers also frequently switch it on in the morning, which is a departure from the usual routine throughout the year. ‘TV viewership on Christmas Eve already peaks at around 8 o’clock in the morning, reaching double the average yearly values,’ asserts Pavel Müller. He further adds that TV prime time is between eight and ten o’clock in the evening.[4] Christmas Eve programming typically includes beloved Christmas fairy tales, as well as classics from Czech and Czechoslovak cinematography. ‘Thematic channels such as CS Film, devoted to Czech and Czechoslovak cinema, do enjoy particularly strong performance on Christmas Eve. Last year, 200 000 viewers tuned in to this channel on that day, nearly doubling the viewership compared to a regular day of the year,’ points out Pavel Müller.[5] On 24th December 2022, all thematic TV channels that Atmedia represents on the Czech market, did collectively attract 2,2 million television viewers aged 4 and above, marking a 62% increase compared to the annual average.[6]
About Atmedia
Atmedia Czech s.r.o. is a media sales house of almost 30 thematic TV channels, which has been active on the Czech market since 2008. Atmedia does handle the selling of TV advertising, and it currently represents many local as well as most of the international TV channels and TV groups on the Czech TV market, in particular AMC Networks, Warner Bros. Discovery, The Walt Disney Company, Antenna Group, or the Slovak JOJ group. At the beginning of 2010, Atmedia introduced the market to a very unique way of selling the advertising space via sales packages. Since 2021, has been regularly publishing the Atmedia Index, a valuable resource providing extensive data, information, and insights in three key domains: (1) the evaluation of television channels’ quality through the eyes of their viewers, (2) adoption and usage of Pay-TV and Free-to-Air services, (3) adoption and usage of subscription Video-on-Demand (SVoD) services.
[1] ATO – Nielsen, Live + TS0–3, 24.–26. 12. 2020, 24.–26. 12. 2021, 24.–26. 12. 2022, Reach, ATS / Day
[2] ATO – Nielsen, Live + TS0–3, 24. 12. 2020, 24. 12. 2021, 24. 12. 2022, 2020–2022, Reach 000 / Day, ATS / Day, TG 4+
[3]ATO – Nielsen, Live + TS0–3, 24. 12. 2020, 24. 12. 2021, 24. 12. 2022, Reach / Day, ATS / Day
[4] ATO – Nielsen, Live + TS0–3, 24. 12. 2020, 24. 12. 2021, 24. 12. 2022, 2020–2022, Rating, TG 4+
[5] ATO – Nielsen, Live + TS0–3, 24. 12. 2022, 2022, Reach 000 / Day, TG 4+, CS Film
[6] ATO – Nielsen, Live + TS0–3, 24. 12. 2022, 2022, Reach 000 / Day, TG 4+, Atmedia + AMC Networks + Seznam.cz TV
