In April, the Czech market welcomed the launch of the Warner TV channel, with advertising sales managed by the Atmedia sales house. Unlike other channels in the Warner Bros. Discovery Group, the new TV channel is also available for free via digital terrestrial broadcasting. ‘With our ongoing commitment to expanding the thematic channels’ market, we’re excited to introduce a channel to our portfolio that holds a considerable promise among Czech television viewers,’ says Michaela Suráková, Atmedia’s Managing Director. She further notes that the new channel demonstrated strong first month performance, contributing to Atmedia’s attainment of a 6,9% audience share among viewers aged 18–69.[1]
‘Upon expanding our thematic TV channels’ portfolio with Warner TV, we aimed to attain a 7% audience share by the end of the year. Remarkably, we nearly reached this target in the very first month, and I anticipate maintaining similar performance in the upcoming period,’ adds Michaela Suráková. She underscores Atmedia’s achievement of surpassing the 5% share threshold for in July 2020, followed by an even greater milestone of exceeding the 6% threshold last April. Additionally, she specifies that the steady growth in Atmedia’s audience share can be attributed to two main factors. ‘The primary reason is the rising interest among Czech TV viewers, complemented by the consistent expansion of our portfolio. Most notably, we recently introduced the Warner TV movie and series channel.’ At present, Atmedia commercially represents a total of 25 measured thematic TV channels on our market. Last month, these channels collectively attracted the attention of 5,4 million television viewers aged four and above, with an average daily viewing time of 1 hour and 16 minutes.[2]
Atmedia’s portfolio is predominantly made up of movies and series television channels, which represent the largest portion. These are then closely followed by documentary, lifestyle, as well as sports, family, or children’s channels. Most of these channels are exclusively accessible to Czech viewers through Pay-TV operators, with seven channels being Free-to-Air. Atmedia’s portfolio does encompass both Czech as well as localised channels of global media giants. Highlighted among the Czech channels are Rebel, Relax, along with television channels from the Československá filmová společnost group (CS Film, CS History, CS Mystery), and Seznam.cz TV. Atmedia does also partner with multinational television groups such as Warner Bros. Discovery (Discovery Channel, Eurosport 1, TLC, and the recently added Warner TV), AMC Networks (AMC, Film+, Minimax, Spektrum, Spektrum Home, Sport 2, TV Paprika), CANAL+ (CANAL+ Action, FilmBox, FilmBox Stars), The Walt Disney Company (Disney Channel, National Geographic), and Antenna Group (AXN). A significant position in the offer is also held by the Slovak television group JOJ (JOJ Family, JOJ Cinema).
First Month Has Witnessed Warner TV Garnering the Attention of Nearly 900,000 Czech TV Viewers
Michaela Suráková highlights that Atmedia reached almost 7% audience share in April, largely attributed to the newly represented Warner TV channel, which commenced its broadcasting on 2nd April with the Smallville television series. ‘The launch of Warner TV couldn’t have been more triumphant. Within its initial day, the channel secured an impressive audience share of nearly 1% among audiences aged 18–69,‘ notes Michaela Suráková, while adding that its first month’s average audience share stood at 0,53%. In April, the channel captured the attention of almost 900,000 viewers aged four and above, with an average daily viewing time of one hour. The audience was fairly balanced between men (61%) and women (39%), with a notable presence of viewers aged 35–44, making up more than a third of the total audience.[3]
Throughout April, Warner TV was chiefly sought after for its afternoon series, with top-viewed titles including ‘Fringe’ and ‘Smallville’. Complementing its series lineup, Warner TV also offers thematic movie blocks such as Sci-Fi Tuesdays, Blockbuster Fridays, and Sunday Superhero Specials. Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ emerged as the most-viewed movie of the previous month, which captivated viewers on the very first day of Warner TV’s broadcast. Following closely behind in the list of most-watched films for April was Steven Spielberg’s ‘The Colour Purple’. Commencing in May, Warner TV will debut Lego-themed movies as part of its thematic movie blocks, scheduled for Wednesday evenings. Additionally, viewers can anticipate enjoying comedies like the 2017 film ‘Father Figures’ on Sunday evenings.
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, 04/2024, Calculation: 1.5. 2024, Share, TG 18–69; Atmedia + AMC Networks + Seznam.cz TV
[2] ATO – Nielsen, Live + TS0–3, 04/2024, Calculation: 1.5. 2024, Reach 000, ATS-R, TG 4+; Atmedia + AMC Networks + Seznam.cz TV
[3] ATO – Nielsen, Live + TS0–3, 2.–30.4. 2024, Calculation: 1.5. 2024, Share, Profile, TG 18–69, Reach 000, ATS-R, TG 4+
