Central and Eastern Europe TV & Video advertising to grow 13% by 2029

In the early 2000s, Central and Eastern Europe's TV advertising was promised to a bright future, following in the steps of its Western counterpart. Yet twenty years later, most global TV players are on the exit or focusing on paid entertainment. Once a land of opportunity, did the global Over-The-Top (OTT) revolution effectively kill TV, or did the region show particular resilience? Is the ongoing restructuring of operators a reflection of deceptive growth, or rather of the Western's own cash struggles? What is the revised scenario the actors can anticipate for the coming years? CEE delivered on growth despite global stress The area confirmed a catch-up dynamic, which translates into its growing weight within the European advertising market: it should make up 15% of the continent’s TV revenues (excluding Russia) this year, up near 4 pts compared to a decade earlier, while it should exceed 5% of OTT revenues in 2029. On a per capita basis, the industry generated 27.2€ this year, +11.5€ compared to 2014, and keeping up with the growth rate of the rest of the economy (+6% GDP/capita on yearly average). Although CEE is known for its diversity of national contexts, this dynamic is fairly regional. The top 4 countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Romania) are driving volumes, all nearing or exceeding a 5% annual growth rate over the past decade. It spans the other countries following specific cycles, from a tepid increase in Slovenia to impressive catch-ups in Greece and Albania, which had been stagnating before the pandemic. Some particular cases marked a decline: the Baltics, sharing the trend of Western Europe, parts of ex-Yugoslavia with less structured FTA markets, and Ukraine, which has experienced a huge drop in TV revenues and a very strong digitalization of advertising budgets since the Russian invasion. Interestingly, advertising dynamics at the country level seem uncorrelated to the penetration rate of pay TV, reinforcing the idea of media growing altogether in the region. The outlook for the next couple of years thus remains promising. 2024 brought in €1.5 billion more than a decade earlier, and another half a billion is expected to grow by the next five years. Most of the growth was captured by advertising outside the linear TV scope More than half the growth between 2014 and 2023 was contributed by video advertising on digital platforms. Over-the-Top (OTT) video advertising is the main challenger to TV, already nearing 20% of the mix in 2024, including 3% generated by Connected TVs (CTV). Whereas some FTA markets are proving challenging, OTT advertising enjoyed double-digit yearly growth across the region. The key players in ad-supported OTT are social media, namely YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. They already hold more than 85%...