Pay-TV growth continues in Czech Republic
AUGUST 10, 2023 09.18 EUROPE/LONDON BY CHRIS DZIADUL

Over half (56%) of all viewers in the Czech Republic aged 15-69 now watch pay-TV services.

This, according to Atmedia, is two percentage points more than two years ago. Pavel Müller, the company’s head of research and marketing, added: IPTV has seen the biggest increase in recent years, at the expense of satellite television”. Specifically, 61% of pay-TV viewers use IPTV or cable TV, the remaining 39% opt for satellite TV.

Pay-TV is used the most by viewers living in municipalities with less than 1,000 inhabitants. There, the penetration rate is 61%, with the majority watching satellite TV.

Meanwhile, the smallest share of pay-TV customers is among viewers living in cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. The penetration rate is 51%, with three quarters using cable TV or IPTV.

The average amount that viewers pay for the services of satellite, cable or IPTV operators has been stable for a long time. In the first half of this year, it was on average CZK393 (€16.2) per month, while in the same period in 2021 it was CZK391.

Müller added: “Despite the high rate of inflation last year and this year, there is surprisingly no increase in the price of pay TV operators’ services. We will see how the amount will develop in the second half of this year, possibly next year”.

The most frequently mentioned option – 43% of viewers – for choosing pay-TV in the long-term is replay. “The results of the atmedia index research show that this service is important for an increasing number of viewers using the offers of pay-TV operators. Over the past two years, the number of respondents citing this reason has increased by six percentage points. After all, the increasing interest in the possibility of watching television in reverse is also shown by the official data of electronic measurement of television viewership – deferred viewership grows over time”.

Meanwhile 39% of viewers with pay-TV say watching channels not available on FTA terrestrial TV is an important factor for them. Other cited reasons are the ability to watch TV on multiple devices (29%) at the same time in addition, and being able to not only on TV, but also PCs, laptops, tablets and mobile phones (27%).