weCAN Digest February 2018

Media monitoring of the latest news about the media and advertising markets of Central and Eastern Europe

The online media advertising market of Ukraine accounted for a total of $89.32 million, which is 40% greater than the 2016 figure, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

Feb 1

#ukraine

The anonymous group calls itself Project Meddle, and it claims to have already paid to enter a portfolio describing Russia's election activities to all the industry award shows: the Webbys, the One Show, the Cannes Lions, the Clios and the Addys. "Like it or not, Russia created the most impactful campaign of the century," the Project Meddlers wrote. "As marketing professionals who spend their days using these same tools, we find ourselves humbled by the skill, innovation, and impact of Russia’s election-meddling campaign. And not in a good way."

Feb 2

#russia

SES Video and long-standing partner Telekom Srbija have extended their existing partnership to broadcast an additional three TV channels and three radio stations for Serbian public broadcaster RTS (Radio Television of Serbia).

Feb 5

#serbia

Google LLC (Kyiv), under control of Google and providing advertising services, increased revenue by 75 percent in 2017, which is higher than the pace of 2016. The company entered the top 100 largest taxpayers of the country, Google LLC Director General Dmytro Sholomko has said.

Feb 5

#ukraine

After more than five years since it all started, Lithuanian fashion designer Robert Kalinkin wins a case Sekmadienis Ltd (on behalf of Kalinkin) vs. Lithuania in the European Court of Human Rights.

Feb 6

#lithuania

BNT programs attracted only 1 per cent of TV advertising in 2017, according to data from the media agency. According to the survey, the total volume of television advertising in Bulgaria last year was 691 million euros. In fact, the amount is certainly significantly lower, as the measurement does not take account of concessions, barters and other agreements that televisions conclude.

Feb 7

#bulgaria

Five Croatian dailies – Novi List, Jutarnji List, Večernji List, Slobodna Dalmacija and Glas Istre on Wednesday warned the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Presidency that over the past two months they had been exposed to „systematic and growing pressure from the SPD against journalists who report about the party’s activities as well as editors, in a bid to influence the editorial polices of the biggest and most influential media outlets.”

Feb 8

#croatia

Controlling political spending on social media? Not me, says Latvian anti-corruption watchdog

Using social media to influence another country’s elections has become a question of national security in many places. In Latvia, where the parliamentary election campaign will start in four months and propaganda from neighboring Russia is a fact of life, the campaign financing watchdog has little clue what to do.

Feb 8

#latvia

Ukraine president sacks chief economic adviser Boris Lozhkin after Al Jazeera contacted both men over fraudulent money. The money was part of a $500m payment from another oligarch, Sergei Kurchenko, who played a central role in the government of former President Viktor Yanukovych. It involves a deal surrounding the purchase of Ukraine's largest media group, United Media Holdings (UMH), in 2013.

Feb 8

#ukraine

How pro-Kremlin online media in Latvia is consolidating and growing its audience

Feb 11

#latvia

An important issue that affects Slovenia’s media landscape nowadays is that almost all mainstream media owners are under criminal investigation for gross crimes by the FBI-like National Bureau of Investigations and Special Prosecutors which deals with corruption, organised crime and terrorism. Some of them were convicted already.

Feb 13

#slovenia

A controversial law about Poland's role in the Holocaust shows how Google serves up different versions of history.

Feb 13

#poland

Slovak Telekom now has more TV customers than Skylink in Slovakia. However, reports Zive, Skylink is still the country’s leading DTH platform operator.

Feb 14

#slovakia

Poland has launched a social media campaign to support its controversial new Holocaust law, which makes it illegal to accuse the country of complicity in Nazi crimes committed during World War II. Videos posted to the YouTube and social media channels of the Polish Prime Minister's Office in recent days promote the hashtag #GermanDeathCamps.

Feb 14

#poland

Russian officials aren’t happy with YouTube. Not only is the world’s largest video-sharing website now under threat of being blocked in Russia for failing to delete videos shared by politician Alexey Navalny, but a senior anti-drug official in the Interior Ministry testified before the State Duma on Thursday that YouTube’s administrators refuse to work with Russian police to take down advertisements for illegal drugs.

Feb 15

#russia

Czech billionaire Peter Kellner is set to buy Bulgaria's largest media company, Nova Broadcasting, which owns some of the most popular commercial TV channels in the country.

19 February

#bulgaria

Central banking institution of Poland spread news on its negative opinion about cryptocurrencies. Polish bankers together with the commission on financial supervision have paid a popular YouTube blogger, Martin Dubille, who stated in his video that he lost all his money by investing in the cryptocurrency. The cost of his investment share was more than 90,000 zlotys, which is equal to $27,000. The campaign for the Central Bank of Poland was conducted in partnership with the Irish branches of Google and Facebook.

Feb 20

#poland

Lithuania’s tobacco regulator believes Philip Morris’s new electronic smoking device should be subject to the same advertising restrictions as tobacco, potentially dealing a blow to a product the company has touted as the future of smoking.

Feb 21

#lithuania

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced today the formation of IAB Ukraine. Yaroslava Antipina, who most recently served as Head of Digital Projects at Media Group Ukraine, has been named CEO of the new organization. IAB Ukraine will work with IAB to drive common goals, promote global standards and guidelines, create better ads and improve consumer experience, and advance social trust and the industry’s interests in the Ukraine marketplace.

Feb 22

#ukraine

Cartoonist Hristo Komarnitski and his colleagues had no illusions: launching a satirical journal was always going to be tricky in Bulgaria, new holder of the EU presidency but also ranked as the bloc’s worst press freedom violator.

Feb 23

#bulgaria

BBC News Ukraine - BBC News Україна - is launching its first TV programme. From Monday 26 February, the live 12-minute news bulletin will air on the Ukrainian channel, Hromadske TV, at 22.00 local time (20.00 GMT), Monday to Friday. The programme also will be available via the website bbc.ua and the BBC News Ukraine YouTube channel.

Feb 26

#ukraine

"Every single thing connected to domestic politics is restricted," says one of the MTVA employees. "You can't write anything bad about the government. For example, when something is politically sensitive, I get instructions. In some cases, I have the whole ready-made article, so I don't need to do anything, no editing at all, just control C, copy and paste, the whole article. It's unimaginable, to be honest."

Feb 26

#hungary

What is the state of native advertising if we dive into some of the more “unknown” countries in the native advertising landscape?

26 February

#serbia #russia #slovakia #croatia

Vogue has partnered with Visteria, a new Polish publishing company, to launch Vogue Poland. The first issue debuted February 14. Vogue Poland, based in Warsaw, is the 23rd international edition under Condé Nast’s fashion brand.

Feb 26

#poland

At midnight, a majority of Slovak media published the final unfinished story by Jan Kuciak, an investigative journalist murdered last week. The story describes the infiltration of Italian businessmen allegedly linked with Calabrian mafia into Slovakia's farm and energy businesses. At the time of his killing, Kuciak was investigating men considered by Italian police as extremely dangerous.

Feb 28

#slovakia

The magazine's print and digital debut will mark Condé Nast International's second Vogue rollout in Eastern Europe this year.

28 February

#czechrepublic #slovakia

Spending on advertising in Hungary rose 11.5% to HUF 241 billion last year, the Hungarian Advertising Association (MRSZ) said on Wednesday, as reported by state news agency MTI. Spending on ads both online and in the printed media, as well as outdoor ads and direct marketing, all saw double-digit growth.

Feb 28

#hungary

Photo by Matt Popovich on Unsplash