Tabloids are prosperous

During 2007, the uncontested leader of the newspaper market in Romania, Libertatea (Ringier România), started to be seriously challenged by two other titles, Click! (Adevărul Holding - Patriciu) and Can-Can (independent, taken over by Adrian Sârbu according to some unofficial information). According to the Romanian ABC (Biroul Român de Audit al Tirajelor - BRAT.ro), the market is as described in the following chart (sold circulation taken into account, data missing where the value is 0):

Libertatea is the traditional leader of the newspapers market in Romania and keeps its position, in spite of an important circulation decrease during the fall-winter of 2007. It sells more than twice than the next title in the hierarchy, Jurnalul naţional, whose position is now threatened by Click!. Having a formula close to the Swiss Blick (ported also on some other Eastern Europe markets), the leader is published by Ringier România, the strongest print group on the market. During the autumn of 2006, the executive director of the Ringier division in charge of Libertatea, Răzvan Corneţeanu, has left Ringier | More…

Romanian media outlet going to the Czech market

Mediafax, a press agency owned by the Romanian Media Mogul Adrian Sârbu, COO of the CME, is extending on the Czech market. At the end of 2007, a Czech company owned by Media Pro Management SA was registered in Prague, with Mihai Predescu as a GM. According to Media Pro sources, Mediafax-Prague will be more than a newswire and there are some other plans for Eastern Europe.

CME and Adrian Sârbu own Pro TV, the leader of the TV market, and various other print, new media, radio and TV assets.

Top 10 TV, February

According to GfK data processed by Realitatea TV, the most viewed 10 TV stations in Romania are:

1. PRO TV - 310.000/348.000 (CME/Sârbu, commercial)
2. Antena 1 - 228.000/219.000 (Voiculescu, commercial)
3. Acasă TV - 207.000/179.000 (CME/Sârbu, commercial, women)
4. Realitatea TV - 112.000/129.000 (Vîntu, niche, rolling news)
5. TVR 1 - 111.000/126.000 (public)
6. Prima TV - 104.000/110.000 (SBS, commercial, strong international reality shows programming)
7. Kanal D - 87.000/87.000 (Dogan, commercial)
8. OTV - 75.000/80.000 (Dan Diaconescu, tabloid)
9. Antena 3 - 73.000/74.000 (Voiculescu, niche, rolling news)
10. Naţional TV - 58.000/58.000 (Micula Brothers, commercial).

The figures are ratings in thousands of viewers (February/January), daily average, all urban. Starting January 1st 2008, the audience data have been provided by GfK Romania, which won the auction against the former audience provider, TNS-AGB Romania. The panel has been increased from 1000 to 1200 households and DTH has been taken into account according to its growing spread. The new GfK system has increased some niche station ratings by | More…