CONTENT WARSAW: The enduring strength of linear TV viewing in Central and Eastern Europe was highlighted in a presentation from Glance-Médiamétrie’s Siméon Mirzayantz here yesterday, which also revealed that CEE content exports beyond the region are rising steadily.
Original Polish series like Idź Przodem Bracie are performing well on SVoD
In a fast-shifting global media landscape, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) remains a powerful reminder that linear television still commands loyalty and reach – even as digital platforms continue to diversify viewing habits.
At Content Warsaw 2025, Siméon Mirzayantz, regional business manager for CEE, the Middle East, Africa and Southern Europe at Paris-based Glance Médiamétrie, presented fresh data on television consumption and content distribution trends in the region. His findings paint a nuanced portrait of a market balancing tradition with transformation, where domestic productions are making headway abroad and international content continues to find strong footing on local schedules.
Siméon Mirzayantz
The enduring strength of linear television in CEE was a key theme in Mirzayantz’s analysis. Despite global declines in traditional viewing, the region continues to outperform many others. In 2024, Bosnia recorded the highest daily average for linear TV viewing in the region, with viewers spending five hours and 35 minutes per day watching broadcast television. This marked a 13-minute increase compared with the previous year. Serbia followed with an average of five hours and 24 minutes per day, up four minutes from 2023, while Romania maintained a strong showing at five hours and four minutes.
These figures stand in stark contrast to many mature Western and non-European markets. In North America, for example, daily linear TV consumption averaged just two hours and 31 minutes in 2024, falling nine minutes from 2023. Asia came in lower still, at one hour and 58 minutes, and Oceania recorded the lowest average globally at just one hour and 28 minutes. Even Europe’s broader average, at three hours and six minutes, trails the CEE outliers by a notable margin.
As Mirzayantz noted: “Linear TV is still alive,” and in the CEE context, very much so. “Let’s take a closer look at Poland now: daily viewing time is also decreasing here, but only by one minute. It still remained very high in 2024, at three hours and 50 minutes. And when we look at young adults – that is, people in Poland aged 16 to 29 – there’s no decrease at all. In fact, [for the YA demo] daily viewing time increased by six minutes between 2023 and 2024.”
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He added: “We can observe the same trend in a smaller market, Serbia, which is still relatively significant in terms of daily viewing time. In Serbia, the total individual target group gained three minutes. And when it comes to young adults – that is, people aged 15 to 24 – their daily viewing time is less than half of the overall average, but it increased by 10 minutes between 2023 and 2024, and even 18 minutes since 2022.”
Glance’s report, which aggregates data across 86 countries, shows that although there has been a small global decline in viewing time – two hours and 19 minutes, down by two minutes from 2023 – Eastern Europe has not followed this downward trend. In fact, viewership of the top 10 programmes per country in the region remained stable year-on-year, highlighting the continued resonance of domestic broadcast content.
The data also confirms that CEE is one of the few regions where top-performing national channels maintain a dominant daily share and consistent yearly coverage. Unlike Western Europe and Asia, where the share of top channels declined by approximately 2% in 2024, Eastern European countries saw no meaningful drop. This stability is crucial for advertisers and content distributors who continue to rely on mass-reach platforms to drive visibility.
But linear television is only part of the region’s story. The other major focus of Mirzayantz’s presentation was the increasing integration of CEE content within international markets – and, conversely, the territory’s appetite for imported programming. Between January 2019 and December 2024, Glance tracked the export of TV and online series that were either developed or co-developed in countries including the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Ukraine. Only new titles, defined as first-season series with at least two episodes, were included in this evaluation.
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The Glance data confirmed that CEE-originated shows are steadily gaining ground globally. The top importers of CEE content were identified during the session, with Poland in top spot; the UK, Finland and France in joint second, and Spain in third – demonstrating a growing international interest in CEE storytelling.
This demand is likely fuelled by a combination of high production values, distinctive narrative voices and an increasing openness among global audiences to subtitled or dubbed content. Titles leading the charge when it comes to exports include Atlantic Crossing, a copro between Czech, Norwegian and UK companies, and Ukrainian comedy Servant of the People.
At the same time, CEE remains a significant importer of international scripted content. Glance tracked the flow of foreign shows into the region over the same five-year period, with US top of the table with 574 series licensed into CEE, followed by the UK (454) and France (194). Germany came next with 152 programmes, followed by Turkey (87), Italy (58), Spain (49), Australia (41), Mexico (34) and Canada (29). The trend is clear: global content continues to dominate parts of the CEE schedules, especially on streaming platforms. However, local productions are increasingly competing for visibility and viewer preference.
This dual dynamic – strong domestic viewing and growing international engagement – is also visible in the SVoD landscape. Glance’s ranking of the top 20 SVoD programmes based on total household reach showed a noteworthy presence of Polish original content: Idź Przodem Bracie, Krew z Krwi and Matki Pingwinów, all on Netflix.
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In this context, local original content is not simply serving cultural or regulatory objectives – it is proving to be a key driver of SVoD consumption. As Mirzayantz’s data shows, even in a saturated global streaming environment, Eastern European audiences are choosing homegrown series that reflect regional realities, while those same shows are beginning to attract global platform interest and distribution deals.
The resilience of traditional broadcasting and the rising strength of regional production are not contradictory forces. Rather, they are converging to create a hybrid content economy in Eastern Europe. Local broadcasters continue to command trust and attention through mass-audience formats, such as primetime dramas and reality shows. Meanwhile, streaming platforms are providing a secondary window – or sometimes a first – to push more sophisticated, internationally oriented productions.
There is also an increasing trend toward coproduction as a strategy for exporting content. Series developed with multiple national partners or with European broadcasters and platforms are more likely to meet the editorial expectations of international buyers and overcome cultural or language barriers. The export footprint of CEE content from Glance’s analysis suggests that such collaborative models are being adopted with success.
For international rights holders and distributors, these developments present a strategic opportunity. The continued dominance of linear television in CEE offers a powerful platform for launching or adapting formats. At the same time, the demonstrated exportability of regional IP provides a foundation for longer-term partnerships and co-financing opportunities. Whether the goal is catalogue acquisition, format licensing or regional commissioning, Eastern Europe now offers a favourable environment for investment.
