С21 Media: CEE now stands on its own two feet… At the KYIV MEDIA WEEK event in mid-September, half the exhibitors are from CEE looking to sell to channels from the region.

С21 Media has posted an article “Developing markets” by Ed Waller. Author has analyzed the current situation of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) markets. The main message of the article - the CEE market stands on its own two feet and it is already developed, sustainable media industry. KYIV MEDIA WEEK proves this trend and successfully expands each year.

International forum KYIV MEDIA WEEK will gather professionals from all over the world on September, 10 – 13 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Traditionally the forum will comprise a number industrial conferences, international content market and special events. Welcome to participate in KYIV MEDIA WEEK 2013!

Developing markets

Markets in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) are major importers of TV formats. But the emphasis now is moving to development and exporting their own IP, writes Ed Waller.


Miss Country Girl

For those of us who can remember when the programme markets in CEE were all about discounted programming from what was then called ‘the West,’ the past 20 years have been quite a transformation. A revolution, you might say.

CEE now stands on its own two feet, in terms of producing, broadcasting and distributing its own content, as visitors to Natpe Budapest in June saw from the number of local exhibitors rubbing shoulders with foreign ones. Likewise, at the Kyiv Media Week event in mid-September, half the exhibitors are from CEE looking to sell to channels from the region.

And if CEE networks do acquire programming, these days the chances are it’s programming from Turkey or Russia rather than their erstwhile Western suppliers, partly due to cost, partly cultural issues.

With moves into local production and regional distribution already underway and pay TV booming, the next step – if CEE content companies really want to go global – is more local development. Currently, a lot of production in the region is driven by imported formats being adapted for local markets. Last week’s Formats Lab told of how Ukraine is booming for Western format vendors, and the same story is told in other CEE markets in recent news reported here, here and here.

But while CEE nets are certainly benefitting from all the tried and tested formats, and local producers are getting commissions, perhaps as much effort should go into format creation as execution. Changes in regulations 10 years ago allowed UK indies to develop long-term format export strategies, and they began developing accordingly. CEE indies should lobby for similar changes in regulation and pump investment into format development to build their export arms.

Look Who's Cooking

Some formats developed in CEE are already going into other markets within the region – Polish production outfit ATM Group was one of the early pioneers of taking CEE IP international with gameshows like Cash Battle. More recently, prodcos like Modern Times Group-backed Paprika and Bucharest-based Media Factory are following up with IP exports of their own, the latter doing particularly well with its Miss Country Girl. After all, if ideas hatched in Colombia and Tel Aviv can making it to the dizzy heights of US network primetime, why can’t those developed in Warsaw or Bucharest?

The emergence of multinational production houses operating within CEE is a good sign, as it not only encourages the exchange of TV formats between territories but also production know-how. Paprika, for instance, now has offices in Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Slovenia, making local versions of its own formats like Fish on the Cake and Look Who’s Cooking.

Local networks are still risk-averse and naturally reach first for tested formats from overseas, but maybe a little back-end incentivisation might encourage some of the more globally minded broadcasters to take on some risk. Without that, trying to persuade a network that it should gamble on an untried paper format so that the prodco can reap the international harvest might be something of a tough sell.

Ed Waller 01-08-2013 © C21Media

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