Interview by Ventsislav Savov

Mr. Skala, what brought you here at the end of December 2016?

I got to know more about bTV Media Group and Bulgaria at the beginning of 2014, when I joined the Slovak operations of our parent company, Central European Media Enterprises. I have been more or less following the markets in all CME territories since then, so I see my coming here a couple of years ago as a very natural development.

CME has a long history in Bulgaria and the region, with leading channels and media groups in each of the countries where it operates. I am pleased that we managed to achieve much better overall business results in the past few years. We further strengthened the audience leadership of bTV Media Group here, as well as our position in the advertising industry, mostly as a result of our improved content strategy and the best talents on the market.

In what condition was bTV when you took over the CEO position, and what are the achievements of your team that you are most proud of? 

bTV has been the viewers' number one choice and the strongest TV brand in Bulgaria for the past 19 years, so we are expected to build up our own achievements all the time. That's why after we first introduced technologies like HD, augmented reality, and 360-degree video, we made the next step with our new hi-tech integrated studio. The project that we launched in June is immense in scale and significance, and makes me extremely proud of the whole team involved in it. The studio gives our journalists new tools to attract attention to the professional and trustworthy news coverage, which is very important in a media environment flooded with all kinds of unverified video content and biased information.

I am also very pleased with the improved multiplatform presence and monetization of our key primetime entertainment programs, such as MasterChef, The Voice and The Farm in the past couple of years - especially bTV's online channels, in response to the changing viewing habits.

Last year we had a reason to be even more proud of our CSR commitment, because bTV’s landmark initiative Let’s Clean Bulgaria Together, for which we truly also appreciate the partnership of your magazine, set an all-time record by attracting more than 400,000 volunteers.

But our most important achievement is that we significantly improved our sales performance and financial results. Now we are able to invest even more in innovative solutions, but first of all in high quality content for all of our platforms.

What is the biggest difference between the Bulgarian and the foreign TV viewers?

The Bulgarian viewers are highly interested in political topics, and as a result the strong news and current affairs content is crucial for the success of a generalist media like bTV. The morning shows here, for example, are mostly a source of authoritative journalism, while in other countries there is a bigger focus on the light entertainment in that timeslot. But these and many other specifics you grasp after you get involved with the media business in Bulgaria, no matter which country you are coming from. It takes time, effort and dedication to develop an in-depth understanding of the local audience and to be able to predict its response to our offerings as best as possible. 

How do your Bulgarian partners accept you as a manager?

I am indeed a foreigner, no doubt about it, but I sense no barriers in regard to this, especially now in my third year in Bulgaria. I trust this is also valid for my team and for our partners – I truly enjoy our fruitful working relationship. The fact that I am a very adaptable person, and had similar experiences in other countries from the region probably helps. But I take a lot of my time to learn as much as possible about the people I work with here - my colleagues and our external stakeholders. I need to know what’s important for them, what drives their decisions and choices. I embrace a management approach in which I am strongly involved in our projects and I consider all relevant opinions before I assess things properly and make the right decisions. And that is also the way to identify the kind of people that would fit bTV Media Group best at any given moment. This I find much more important than the language, which is anyway easily solved.

What did you know about Bulgarians before you came here and how this knowledge changed over time?

I was familiar with Bulgaria mostly through the media business prism. I had an idea about what kind of TV content is popular here, and how the advertising sector works. I developed a real understanding of why and how things happen here after I joined bTV Media Group. Once in Bulgaria and in touch with the people, I was very interested to learn about the cultural specifics, about the various perspectives of your history, and about the different ways in which democracy after a communist regime has shaped people’s values and priorities today. My most optimistic finding is that Bulgaria has very smart, hard-working, self-driven, talented, and open-minded people, who are extremely motivated to make things better in the country.

In your opinion, how could our economy win the trust of more investors?

It is definitely concerning that even the fastest-growing industries lately, such as IT and outsourcing, are beginning to starve for talents. Some sectors are even “importing” specialists already. So, the country really needs to work on the development of the new professional competencies required by businesses today. We should all contribute by sharing practical knowledge and experience. I am proud of our journalists taking so much of their time to train and teach the future masters of their extremely important profession. I’m not sure that the Bulgarian market, being a relatively small one, needs to be compared to the West European, but having enough qualified people for the businesses with the greatest potential in the country is in my opinion an important, though not the sole factor for attracting foreign investors. And further strengthening the business environment would also stimulate the growth of the media industry, of which the whole society would benefit.

What could make you leave Bulgaria?

Hard to say, but for sure it would not be related to country specifics or the local business environment. Bulgaria is full of opportunities.

Biography:

Florian Skala, born in Austria, is Chief Executive Officer of bTV Media Group, part of Central European Media Enterprises (CME). He has outstanding credentials in the TV business in the region. In Bulgaria, bTV Media Group significantly improved its overall business results and strengthened its leading position on the local media market since December 2016, when he took over the CEO role. Prior to that Florian Skala was Sales Director at Markiza Group in Slovakia, which is also part of CME. Earlier, for a number of years he had been in a leading position at RTL - Austria.

Florian Skala has studied Media Management in the University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten.