CME’s New VOD Brand Builds On Group’s Broadcast Strengths

PREMIUM: Central European Media Enterprises (CME) is aiming to build up a big library of premium international titles for its new Voyo video-on-demand brand, its head of new media, Robert Berza, tells Jay Stuart.

But the group, which is a successful free-TV operator in six Central European markets, sees its local production muscle as a key real strategic advantage in rolling out new broadband pay services.

The new Voyo brand is currently operating only in the Czech Republic (since the start of this year), where there is ad-supported free streaming (including Champions League football) plus a transactional VOD service. It is also in Slovenia (since October 2010) as a subscription VOD service under the Pop Plus brand. In addition to those two markets, CME is a broadcaster in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Croatia (the latter of which will probably be the next destination for Voyo). CME has already been operating catch-up TV services under its individual channel brands in the individual markets. Voyo is a new brand and it is the first brand that the group is launching across all of its markets.

“We have a real advantage over the competition,” Robert Berza, CME’s head of new media, told World Screen on Friday. “We have within our company the most successful broadcast channels in these markets and that not only means that we can capitalize on that success and mirror it in the pay space, it means we have the production capability to create more content from our broadcast shows with very low incremental cost.”

While the key to making VOD work is usually seen as fiction programming (including movies), CME is finding that reality-type programming works very well, such as Big Brother or Got Talent. 

Big Brother has been one of the subscription drivers in Slovenia. “We can offer more cameras and more content than the broadcast coverage," Berza says. "We can show different rooms in the Big Brother house or show the rehearsals for Got Talent. We are trying to do this with all our major formats where it’s possible.”

Voyo has started streaming episodes of some of its broadcast drama and comedy shows in advance in the Czech Republic, and that has been a popular VOD attraction, without hurting the broadcast audience at all. In fact, having the shows available to buy in advance has given the broadcast a boost.

“We produce a lot of local content and we are able to control and optimize the exploitation though the various windows,” Berza said.

But building a big library of premium international titles is essential, he said. “In order to convert customers from free to pay, you need quantity. Building up the volume of content is one of our greatest challenges.” He added, “We would aim to get to a thousand titles and move toward 10,000, always bearing in mind the return on investment on each package of titles.”

CME made a breakthrough with its first US studio deal for Voyo this month in a new partnership with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution. The studio’s new movie releases, and a selection of library titles, will be offered to viewers via Voyo in the Czech Republic. It includes such titles The Hangover Part II and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. In addition, users will have access to almost 150 films from the Warner Bros. catalogue, including Analyze That, Troy and I Am Sam.

CME plans to roll out the Voyo VOD service across Central and Eastern Europe before the end of the year. The deal with Warner Bros. will extend to all markets where Voyo is launched.
 

CME is talking to other studios and independents about packages. The new brand also makes deal-making with distributors easier. Berza said, “We can have discussion about a single product called Voyo, not six products, and the Voyo product will have the same quality in all six markets.”