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, Dataxis tried to answer in a new study.

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.

Dataxis forecasts indicate that for 2024 the CEE ad revenues will climb over 4 billion euros, with Linear TV exceeding 3 billion and the rest going to OTT and to CTV. For 2029 the forecast is that the CEE ad market will reach nearly 5 billion euros.