bTV Bulgaria: entertaining, multiplatform & international

Also part of this spring season was the longest running Bulgarian TV series Capital Hillbillies, as well as two brand new shows for the Bulgarian TV market, Home Makeover, which attracted over 1 million viewers per episode, and My Mom Cooks Better Than Yours, which became the most popular family game show and leader in its time slot. As a result of their success and popularity, some of these shows will return with new seasons. This autumn the millions of bTV viewers will also enjoy the second edition of the Farm, the most successful reality show last year.

Pavel Stanchev, CEO of the bTV Media Group, explains to Prensario: ‘The bTV channel remains the clear market leader in Bulgaria based on GARB, the only audited measurement system measured by the whole industry in the country, with a 10 percentage point lead over its main competitor in the first five months of 2016. This reflects our viewer’s appreciation of our continuous investment in high quality content’.

The bTV Media Group is also home to some of the best quality football championships, including the UEFA Champions League and the Europa League. bTV Action produced the tribute game of the best Bulgarian football player ever, Hristo Stoichkov, on May 20th. The event achieved an average viewership of 51.2% within the male audience aged 18 to 49 and became the most watched TV program in May by viewers aged 18-49.

‘In fact, we have seen significant growth and very positive reactions to all the niche channels in the bTV Media Group. In May 2016 our niche channels registered a 35% increase in audience share compared to May 2015 in the target group aged 18-49. In this target group the main competitor, MTG, registered a 10% decrease’, he says.    

GARB provides people-metrics data in Bulgaria that is used by two of the three national TV channels (BNT and the bTV Media Group) and was audited by an independent institution, The French Institute CESP, by order of the Users Committee whose members were the main TV stations, agencies and advertisers in Bulgaria.

The agency Nielsen Admosphere (former Media Research), used and quoted by Nova TV for audience data was introduced to the market by the broadcaster itself, and has never been audited by the industry. The industry was also recently notified that some of the agency’s owners were undisclosed and incorporated in offshore zones in contradiction to the Bulgarian law and transparency standards.  

The bTV Media Group strongly supports the idea of a single currency in the market and therefore it stood firmly behind the efforts of the two major industry associations: the Bulgarian Association of Advertisers and the Bulgarian Association of Communication Agencies, who requested the creation of a joint industry committee as is the practice in the most developed European markets.  

Putting the audience measurement systems aside, a national survey made at the beginning of 2016 by GfK Bulgaria also confirmed the leading position of the bTV channel in the Bulgarian TV market. bTV was the preferred channel for 34% of the target audience, holding a 10 percentage point lead over Nova TV. For around 38% of the population, bTV was the most frequently watched channel. It also had the highest spontaneous brand awareness (44%).

The bTV Media Group was the advertisers’ preferred choice because of the excellent service provided to their campaigns as the company delivered an average of 99.8% of the rating score promised for any given campaign. The results of the bTV Media Group are driven by their programming policy and an unmatched quality of service in the market.

A cornerstone of television in the country, the highly rated bTV News enjoys the highest level of trust among viewers. As another step in the bTV strategy to consolidate the leading position of the bTV news, current affairs programs and sports, bTV launched a free news mobile application in June. With it, users are informed quickly and easily about all current affairs from both Bulgaria and the world, anywhere, anytime and on all types of mobile devices. Even when users are offline or without Internet, they have access to previously downloaded news and interesting materials.

Another completely new project for the market was launched by the bTV Media Group in June. This new service, bTV International, is made especially for the Bulgarian audience living abroad. Initially, broadcast is available through the subscription platform for video content, VOYO.BG.

‘The purpose of bTV International is to provide a mix of shows and series tailored to the lifestyle of Bulgarians abroad, and to meet the needs of this group with current and reliable information about what is happening in the country. The program of bTV International provides our fellow citizens abroad a window into what is happening at home. bTV is the most watched TV channel in Bulgaria and our responsibility is to meet the media needs of our citizens abroad’, concluded Stanchev.