In this exclusive interview for CEETV, Peter Kolosi, Deputy CEO and Programming Director at RTL Hungary, talks about how his company adapted to the coronavirus pandemic and further boosted its content output in 2021 to keep its leading position on the Hungarian market.


Peter, how has RTL managed to navigate through 2021? What were the main difficulties and what were the opportunities during the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic?

Actually, it was quite a difficult period, but I have to say that we could really navigate quite successfully, ratings-wise, as well as concerning new projects, we launched some very successful shows. I would say that programming wise, it was rather 2020 which was impacted by the pandemic, because obviously at the very beginning, we didn't know what we can produce, and we started to save content, because we could not produce. But at the end of the day, it was also a very successful year, and I can say the same about 2021 so far. I think it's the year of the big returns of shows. We have been the market leader for more than 20 years and we are the market leader today as well. So far, I have to say that 2021 is really a very successful year for us.


Has the behavior of viewers changed because of the pandemic?

They started to watch even more TV. Hungary has always had high TV viewership and despite the decrease in the last couple of years, Hungary is still among the first ones in Europe. During the pandemic, we gained loads of young viewers as well for linear TV which in general is in a very good shape. But on the other hand, our streaming service is also getting stronger practically month by month. It has a very strong position, I would say, the strongest position among the Hungarian brands.


What are your expectations for development of the Hungarian TV market this year?

The competition is big, but I'm not expecting any major changes in the ranking of the channels, so I'm quite confident that RTL will be the absolute market leader this year as well.


Are you feeling the pressure from the international streaming giants in Hungary?

Everybody obviously feels the pressure in the business because obviously they are also getting more and more used to our region as well. But I'm feeling quite positive about our position and our possibilities in the next couple of years as well. I don't expect that the big international giants will be the home of loads of local content and the Hungarian viewers obviously are very much interested in local content and I think this is where we are. We can be the best.