Inventory of the Romanian TV niches: an obvious increase

Launches of Antena 2, Kanal D and Romantica indicate that on the Romanian TV market interesting events keep happening in terms of niche. The channels established in 2007, but also in the past recent years, indicate a diversification of the TV offer. The broadcast niches in Romania are not yet profitable but they have started to gain more and more viewers. A number of stations belonging in general to the big media owners in Romania have started to appear out of the blue.

Romanian TV niches

The “n.a.” results in the table above, compiled by Antena 1 from official data provided by TNS-AGB, most of the time show the absence of the television in April 2006.

A Very Brief History of ‘niche’

The niche word was initially used in ecology field, reflecting the proper habitat for particular species not wide spreaded, as anaerobe bacteria (not air-consuming) or the beavers that use to crowd near the water gates. In marketing, niche refers to a market segment with distinct interests, proper for launching a product targeted to that particular segment. The economic profitableness stands not in the number of the sold products, but rather in the high price of the product. To be more specific, Coca-Cola is a popular soft drink, mass market type, while an apple or carrot juice will interest less hangers-on, but it can bring a pretty good profit based on the buyers’ fidelization and the high unit price.

News And ‘Manele’: Prigoană The Founder

2002 is the year local niches started to pop up when Realitatea TV, launched in 2001, and owned by Silviu Prigoană, turned into news TV channel. Up to this date, the Romanian cable niches were imported from abroad: science, cartoons, music, sports and film channels. Prigoana’s television channel started to be took off in 2004 by a relatively low-rated channel, the one owned by Ioan and Viorel Micula borthers, N24. Later on, in the second half of 2005, Antena 3 (Intact/Voiculescu) launched, leading to a standing out of the first Romanian niche.
Silviu Prigoană would then sell Realitatea TV in the spring of 2004 to Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu, who undertook its ownership only in February 2006 stating that he had no intention to link his name with the television before proving it is a success.
Prigoană has stated that he sold Realitatea TV due to the high operational costs eventually reflected in major loss. The businessman kept being active in the TV niche field by coming with a solution much chipper and more Balkan like: folklore and ‘manele’ music TV channel. After launching Etno TV, Silviu Prigoană and his associate Rareş Gărduş have launched TarafTV with the stated purpose of cuing Discovery pattern, a umbrella channel with a lot of ramifications overqualified.
The profitableness of such Estearn concepts lays on the taxes paid by the cable companies for taking over the channel, as well as on the payments made by the ‘manele’ singers and the folklore music singers charged in 2005 for one broadcast 4-25 Euros, in accordance with the statements of Gărduş at that time. After Etno TV and Taraf TV, Favorit TV was the following channel to launch, owned by Micula brothers – a similar resounding niche success.
Under the new ownership of Vîntu, Realitatea TV gained a really good reputation due to the courageous stories under the election campaign in 2004. Voices of the civil society and journalists of much account were talking at that time about the influence exercised by Năstase Government over the printed and audio-visual mass media and. Starting with 2005, a series of attemps to exploit such image capital proved to be fruitless in terms of important rate changes. Although during Prigoană era called „Năstase’s inbox” recorded an average rating of 0.6-0.7 percentage points per day, later on he barely recorded one point as an average. The new schedules starting with 2005 having partially transformed Turcescu into a news moderator program and filled all spare time on the afternoon with a broadcast without any informative structure or content, “Fabrica”, also recorded poor rating. After a while Mihai Tatulici left the Program Manager position. Hence it is that April 2007, the month when president was suspended, Realitatea TV gained but and average of 0,9 percentage points compared to 1,2 points in April last year.
Moreover, off-the-record information, though confirmed in terms of financial difficulties of the channel adds to the management change that took place few months ago, when Sergiu Toader and Sorin Enache, the two managers of the TV channel, were mandated by Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu with responsibilities for the entire Group Realitatea-Caţavencu. Without a manager able to make decisions and penniless, the channel’s schedule is more and more lacking in elaborated broadcasts replaced by more an more amorphous talk-shows. The escape will come up, according to other off-record information, in August 2007, when a funding is expected as a result of the already notified transaction PetromService-OMV.

Voiculescu Fights Back

In the summer of 2005, Intact Media, the group under the control of Voiculescu, notified an investment of 10 million dollars in modern technique and quality programs. The investment was going to be obvious in now time on cable in Antena 3, a news channel effected based on Antena 1 editorial team. Compared to Realitatea TV, Voiculescu’s channel is broadcasting less talk-shows and more foreign productions, as Jay Leno or Top Gear. Given that the news are better elaborated and the structure of the news programs is more logically organized compared to Realitatea TV, they become a ore interesting offer for the viewers with income over the average and more literate, targeted by this kind of television channels. On the other hand, the channel was accused of broadcasting Dan Voiculescu’s political messages, especially during hot events, as the current campaign for referendum, which altered its reputation. Anyway, Antena 3 gains advantages in its fight against the reputation – already old and disputed – of Realitatea TV: if the channel recorded in April 2006 an average of 0.3 points per day, meaning 25% of the 1.2 points representing the rating of Vîntu’s channel, in April 2007, it slightly increased to 0.5 points, meaning 55% of the same.
The launching of Antena 3 was followed in 2006 by Euforia Lifestyle TV, a premium project for women, owed to Florin Nicoară, one of Dan Voiculescu’s key-persons. The channel is now looking in a way for the top rating of Acasă TV, the TV channel with a really surprising commercial success, owned by Adrian Sîrbu and CME, launched in 1998. The target taken upon Euforia Lifestyle TV is not very numerous. April 2006 and April 2007 brings the same result, 0.1 percentage points. It is hard to establish whether the business plan took into consideration an increase of the rating or Euforia simply waits a more mature society, with a more distinct middle class showing more interest in the programs aiming at a rather utile nature, with Romanian productions unfavorably contrasting with the latter.
The fourth TV channel owned by Voiculescu, Antena 2, first broadcast few weeks ago and has been recording no noticeable rating. It intends to be an attitude channel, apparently similar to Cosmos Tv, a project close to the right-wing “Big Romania” Party (PRM).

Tabloid TV Channels Start To Come Into The Light

Dan Diaconescu and its OTV have been constantly the subject of public indignation. The channel was even suspended for a while, and in the fall of 2005, public suspicions started to emerge, not proved though, based on a statement of Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the leader of PRM, according to which he was charged by the channel to enable PRM show on Dan Diaconescu’s channel. On late prime-time, OTV is still the leader of niche channels and often it records top ratings of 3-4 points. During the last 2 years, in spite of his poor reputation, Dan Diaconescu managed to become in terms of ratings the most important talk-show moderator among Romanian commercial channels. OTV records a rather cozy daily rating of 0.5 points, although during the periods when Diaconescu is not moderating, the rating draws near zero.
The witches, the crimes and truculent politicians brought by Diaconescu offer the distinct direction of tabloid channel he runs. ‘DDTV’, the second TV channel of Dan Diaconescu is however similar which would make sense only if Diaconescu would charge you for broadcasting you as a supplementary program – but the fact is just not yet proved.
The second interesting tabloid channel is Kanal D. It was launched in February the 18th 2007, and it is owned by the Dogan Turkish holding, but it disappointed the viewers due to its epigone nature and low quality programs. In spite of the recycled VIPs and the errors related to shooting, format, costumes and lights the channel managed to reach an average of 0.5 points in April 2007.
Romantica is another new comer, on April the 1st. With a distinct target formed of women, close to the market aimed by Acasă TV, the third channel owned by Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu, among Realitatea and Money Channel, recorded 0.1 points in its first month, Teo, Tanţa, Raluca Moianu and other VIPs being on its side, thus confirming the rule that the VIP is not self-sufficient without the ability of generating rating for the channel

Scatter-Brained Lilliputians, Niches With Exclusive Occupant

The top of the niches also refers to small television channels, without any distinct profile and barely surviving.
Naţional TV, Micula’s brothers television channel, with average rating of 0.4-0.5 points without targeted destination. It is kind of a commercial Lilliputian general television channel, similar to B 1 TV. Cosmos TV, underwritten by Corneliu Vadim Tudor, uses a different rhetoric and a complementary program schedule, but has no distinct positioning. It looks like Flux TV experiment made by Petre Mihai Băcanu and Bogdan Ficeac, situated at the other side of the political spectrum and apparently put to an end by re-scheduling Realitatea TV broadcasts, while for about an year it managed to show re-runs of its own time. The business televisions were really tempting for the Romanian media owners, but Partener TV disappeared in December 2006 for turning into something that cannot be viewed on cable, called Goodlife Channel. Money Channel, owned by Sorin Ovidiu Vîntu, was launched with almost not content and, consequently, brought no ratings. A project announced by Adrian Sârbu, called for a while Business Channel, is not yet capitalized.

The Future Sounds Digital

In 2012, according to European regulations, Romania shall entirely turn to digital television. Such technical change brings, first of all, a higher number of available frequencies, but also some possibilities hard to image nowadays, as the screen with a lot of sub-screens (split screen) or non-linear programming. The last one refers to the fact that the viewer could make up its own schedule out of the programs he likes, as well as he can do nowadays on his own PC or iPod when it comes about the music he wants to listen.
The distinct profile of the small TV channels, niche ones, is rather insignificant when thinking about such possibilities. For example, people could chose Dan Diaconescu, excepting for the other anonymous broadcasts of OTV schedule.
The niche channels shall proliferate, probably, in the next few years, with no noticeable ratings gaining an income accordingly. The ones managing to assert formats could turn at the same time with digitalization era into production houses providing niche content, while the prior existence, as analogue cable channel could serve as promotion mean.

COMMENTARY (by Iulian Comanescu): Here Starts The High Jinks

Cosmos TV, Antena 2, OTV’s visibility over the last two years and the morose performances of Cristian Tudor Popescu on all TV channels are but the aspects of the same phenomenon: inflamed disputes, hypercritical spirit, Romanians’ mental blackouts that are not able anymore to see the end of ‘transition’ and have started to act aggressively. The first to notice this was over 100 years ago Ion Luca Caragiale, the famous Romanian playwright, who created a character called Rică Venturiano, a journalist with “Vocea patriotului naţionale” (The Voice of the National Patriot). The master characterised his charater with two words: “combate bine” (”fights back vigorously”). It is worth mentioning the fact the Venturiano is polyvalent (“student at law and columnist”), permanently angry, partisan, with a low income, supposedly coming not from the newspaper, but from a political party or another. And, most of all, Venturiano confirms in his columns the presuppositions of the public referring to the fact that the “country”, the “nation”, “Romania” is on the edge due to a band of scoundrels that must be eliminated on spot. After a doubtful ending which is going to take place sometime in the future, a really joyful and utopian future is to come.
All the above means that the Romanian press – and not only, but to a greater extent – also provides the readers new stuff, but, at the same time, confirms, animates, consolidate, gammons and divides the public. When such opinions are intentionally persuaded it is called propaganda. But we can suspect only Cosmos TV and Antena 2 of such misleading actions, as a result of the links of the channels with a political party (PRM and PC), and the suspicion is not self-sufficient for a serious approach.
Rică Venturiano is the yang of this phenomenon. The yin is made of melodramatic and humorous reactions of the lifestyle moderators and the broadcasts “with simple people”. Miţa Baston and Didina keep haunting our a-political and successful Romanian television channels, while the public prefers to identify with them instead of mock them.
In a way or another, the niches being exploited by the broadcasters over the last two years have started to take some of the not-so-serious content of the big commercial televisions, as Antena 1 or ProTV. Maybe sometime such channels shall become respectable, but in terms of mid-term expectation, given the spectacular political situation, Rică Venturiano’s different hypostases all over Romanian channels shall work their way out successfully and running at the mouth.

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