ČT24 BROADCASTS FOR TWENTY YEARS, CNN PRIMA NEWS FOR FIVE YEARS

News channels have increased their combined share of the television market over the past five years. Both ČT24 and CNN Prima News are celebrating their anniversaries in May.

Friday, May 2, marked twenty years since the launch of the news channel ČT24, and on Saturday, May 3, CNN Prima News celebrated its fifth anniversary. Both have gradually carved out a place for themselves on the television market, despite initial mistrust and concerns about whether they could be beneficial and viable.

Moreover, the period since 2020, when both stations began broadcasting simultaneously, has shown that the overall share of the television market held by specialized news channels has increased. While in 2020, when CNN Prima News was launched, the combined share for both stations was 5.78% (15+), by May this year it was about one percentage point higher, at 6.7% (source: ATO-Nielsen).

At least three minutes of television broadcasting from one of the news channels is watched daily by almost 1.5 million viewers over the age of 15 (reach 15+, April 2025), which represents 4.5 million viewers per month. However, television reach is not increasing over time, which is related to the consumption of news via online platforms, where some viewers are shifting. Online, visitor numbers run into the millions per month.

The website ct24.cz was visited by over 920,000 real users in March this year (source: NetMonitor), while the website CNNPrima.cz had 2.7 million users during the same period. Both stations reach hundreds of thousands to millions of users via social networks.

In terms of television viewership, ČT24 is more than two percentage points ahead of its younger competitor. Initially, with the launch of CNN Prima News, ČT24's share declined, but since 2023, the positions have stabilized and the gap between them has not changed significantly.



Based on a comparison with the shares of other news stations in Europe, Czech Television states that ČT24 is the most watched public news channel in Europe and a "symbol of trustworthiness, reliability, and continuous news coverage." According to tracking research by Kantar CZ, up to 85% of respondents consider Czech Television to be their main source of information during extraordinary events. Research also shows that 62% of viewers consider ČT24's news coverage to be objective and balanced, and that its level of trust ranks alongside European public service broadcasters such as Austria's ORF, France's France Télévisions, and Italy's RAI.

To mark its 20th anniversary, a thematic marketing campaign was launched with the slogan "In good times and bad." It is intended to express that ČT24 is available both in peaceful times and in times of turmoil.

CNN Prima News, on the occasion of its 5th anniversary, announced that it had won a contract for another five years and could thus continue to cooperate with CNN International, which provides it with a license for news content. In the next five years, it wants to focus even more on multimedia presence and providing content not only through television, but also through digital media, audio media, and print media.

The most watched program in the history of ČT24 was the election studio for the second round of the presidential elections on January 28, 2023, which was watched by 1.3 million viewers, with a share of over 40%. On CNN Prima News, the highest ratings to date were achieved by Partie Terezie Tománkové, broadcast on June 4, 2023, with 358,000 viewers aged 15+ (24% share), and Superdebata: České zájmy v Evropě on June 5, 2024. It was watched by 347,000 viewers with a 12.3% share.

Source: mediaguru.cz