By Fabricio Ferrara, Prensario International

Florian Skala is CEO of bTV Media Group, the leading Bulgarian TV group, which significantly improved its overall business results and strengthened its leading position on the media market since he took over the CEO role in December 2016.

"On a global scale, we are witnessing a notable transformation of how people access TV content, as a result of their changing viewing habits and the accelerated pace of technological developments. However, television is still the strongest medium in our region", he initiates.

According to the executive, TV is the most "powerful video content producer", especially in the CEE region: "The surge of online viewing is changing the game for us in a positive direction. High quality and reliable video production that is relevant to the local specifics attracts the biggest audience no matter the channel, be it linear TV or a digital service, but it requires significant resources, expertise and talent to be invested. Leading broadcasters like bTV Media Group will be among the few capable of such investments in Bulgaria and the region in the near future, so television can be even more relevant in this content-driven market scenario".

To succeed, bTV Media Group focuses is efforts on producing only high quality local content in diverse genres, and on extending it in a digital environment.

"We made further investments in state-of-the-art technology. After we became pioneers on the Bulgarian market with HD, augmented reality and 360-degree video, this year we launched our largest-scale technological project ever since bTV's start – a brand new hi-tech integrated studio for our news and current affairs shows. These investments were possible because we significantly improved our business results in the past three years”.

The backbone of bTV’s program are news and current affairs shows. "Bulgarians are very interested in political and social topics, and especially live coverage. We also succeed with global entertainment realities in both our prime time and digital platforms. As for local fiction, we see the growing impact of OTT services. With significant production and talent resources, they have raised the criteria for locally produced fiction as well, so now we invest in the highest quality titles only. Premium sports are also important content ingredients of our channels and platforms."

According to Skala, "Bulgarians highly appreciate our reality and entertainment formats. We are now broadcasting new seasons of the top-rated shows The Farm and Bulgaria’s Got talent. Meanwhile we are working on a new local series to be released next year - a weekly prime time romantic comedy with a captivating story from Bulgaria’s most popular sea resort, Sunny Beach, alongside bTV’s biggest spring hits The Voice and MasterChef.

In response to the new viewing habits we are producing even more digital extensions of our top shows and exclusive video content made for web only. Our viewers can catch-up with the whole episodes on our AVOD platform bTV Plus.

In terms of acquired content, we bet on blockbuster movies and highly acclaimed Turkish drama, and on premium sports - UEFA Champions League, Europa League, French Ligue 1. These premium tournaments are also among the top performers in our digital channels, including our SVOD service VOYO.

OTT services are gaining popularity in Bulgaria, even though at a much slower pace than in other CEE countries like Poland, for example. But regardless of how this business model develops in the region, it will not replace linear or catch-up TV viewing - it will only add to the total viewing time.

OTT services, however, are changing the expectations for content delivery, and are in a way positively influencing the development of our SVOD service VOYO.  

Contrary to the viewing preferences related to the streaming giants, VOYO is most popular among users who want to watch their favorite shows ahead of the TV broadcast, in live streaming or on-demand at their convenience afterwards."