bTV News celebrates its 20th birthday with the highest evaluation by viewers. This is the newsroom with the biggest and growing trust and the source of the most objective TV journalism in the country, according to a nationally representative Market Links* survey conducted in October 2020.

It all started on November 18, 2000, when after months of intensive preparation, the first edition of the bTV News was broadcast. For the first time, viewers learnt the most important news of the day not from one, but from two anchors - one of the dozens of innovations that bTV introduced in TV journalism in Bulgaria. Less than a year after its first newscast, bTV News were established as an absolute information leader, with the turning point being September 11, 2001, when the whole of Bulgaria followed the terrorist attacks in the United States live on bTV.

Twenty years later, bTV News remains *closest to the people and the first out of all televisions that viewers would turn to with their problem or signal.

"Our strategy is to integrate all the content produced by the News, Current Affairs and Sports editorial board on all our platforms. This is how viewers watch the reports, investigations and interviews of our journalists both on television and on the Internet. For us, video journalism has long been more than just a newscast or a program on television," said Venelin Petkov, director of News, Current Affairs and Sports at bTV Media Group.

In a year of unprecedented global pandemic, events and conflicts of global and national importance, bTV's newsroom is ranked first in terms of reliable coverage of international news (according to 49.6% of respondents), exclusive information and interviews (according to 41.8%) and with objective presentation of extraordinary events live (according to 41.2%). Most viewers define bTV as the most independent and equidistant from political influence, and over 40% will follow the next elections on the media. Most users (34%) trust btvnovinite.bg as the first source of information among news sites. Over 42% of the respondents would check the truthfulness of dubious information through the bTV channels.

"Retaining viewer trust for 20 years and even increasing it in challenging times is the biggest acknowledgment of the significance of bTV News. It’s a proof of the necessity of quality, independent and impartial journalism for people in Bulgaria in the past, today and in the future," said Florian Skala, CEO of bTV Media Group.

Twenty years after their first broadcast, bTV News is in the first place in terms of presenting information in an attractive way - according to over 43% of viewers. An innovator in technology, the channel introduced before everyone else 3D-mapping, 360˚ video and augmented reality on air, as well as 360˚livestream. The unique for Central and Eastern Europe high-tech integrated studio, which became the home of bTV’s news and current affairs in 2019, entered the top 5 of the most prestigious competition for marketing and design in the field of media in the world. But its most important function is to help the audience keep their attention on the most important facts of the day.

For years, the newsroom faces and editorial teams have dedicated their time and energy to a number of socially significant causes. More than 40% of the respondents in the Market Links survey share the opinion that bTV employs hosts and reporters who ask the questions that are closest and most pressing to society, and 39.7% of the respondents state that they find the greatest number of good news and inspiring human stories on the air of the television.

Part of bTV News is sports news. This year the newsdesk also celebrates 20 years since the first broadcast of the UEFA Champions League on the bTV channels. An integral part of the news content is the weather forecast presented by some of the most beloved television personalities for the last 20 years and easily accessible on dalivali.bg.

* National representative survey of Market Links with a sample of 1017 people aged 18-54, conducted in October 2020.