After five years on the market, TV Nova Group’s news and lifestyle platform TN Live has established itself as a channel offering content 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It sees its future growth primarily in the distribution and increased production of content on social media, where Nova’s news coverage has increased its reach by hundreds of per cent over the past year. This applies particularly to TikTok, where the ‘quick bite’ format has taken off, and Instagram. Together with Facebook, these are TN Live’s main platforms.
“It is essential for us that we are not just a linear channel. We create content so that it can continue to live on the TN.cz website, on the Oneplay platform and on social media. Distribution is key today,” explains Martin Synek, producer at TN Live.
According to him, TN Live’s current viewership amounts to “well into the hundreds of thousands of views per week”. TN Live’s online foundation is reflected both in how content is consumed – with non-linear viewing predominating over linear – and in the composition of its audience. “A large proportion of viewership today comes from on-demand viewing. Viewers choose specific programmes retrospectively; these are often interviews or more analytical formats that have a longer shelf life than traditional news segments,” he explains. At the same time, compared to Televizní noviny, the most-watched domestic television news programme, TN Live appeals to a younger audience. “We try to adapt our choice of topics and the way we cover them accordingly,” says Synek.
TN Live is available on the TN.cz website, via Oneplay and the Oneplay Zprávy news section, as well as on HbbTV. Expanding the channel to other operators outside its own distribution network is not currently on the agenda. “We are primarily focusing on our own platforms and on fine-tuning the channel’s production,” explains Martin Synek. However, it cannot be ruled out that this strategy may change in the future.
It remains the case, however, that TN Live is positioning itself as a news and lifestyle channel. “We don’t want to go down the route of a traditional news channel; we’re focusing on programme diversity,” confirms Kamil Houska, Director of News and Current Affairs at TV Nova. He points out that in its first year, TN Live broadcast for only a few hours a day and focused primarily on breaking news; it now broadcasts continuously and, in addition to news, offers viewers lifestyle and sports podcasts.
News complemented by lifestyle and sport
Sports content is another programming priority for TN Live, where it can draw on the programming breadth of the Nova Sport channels. Sports programmes such as Ve skluzu, Legendy ledu, V ringu, Na trati and U terče are already being produced on a regular basis.
In addition to daily news interviews, live broadcasts and Rychlé noviny news round-ups, TN Live’s content also includes the news programmes Headline TN Live and Do hloubky, in which presenters discuss the topics of the day with experts. Every weekday also features the political discussion programme Napřímo, the Talk! programme featuring showbiz personalities, and Nastartujme Česko, in which the editorial team explores economic and ESG topics and interviews Czech entrepreneurs and start-up founders. Thematic non-news programmes focus on a range of sectors – such as healthcare, literature, the military or European affairs. These are represented by the programmes Vizita, Čtenáři, Rozkaz and 15 minut.
The channel’s main presenters include Rebecca Diatilová, Barbora Šimková and David Chmátal. Presenters from the television newsroom also feature here. “For us, effective collaboration between the television newsroom, TN Live, the website and social media is crucial,” adds Kamil Houska.
New studio enables rapid changes
The programme expansion has also been supported by the new studio, from which TN Live has been broadcasting since last summer. Internally, it is divided into news and lifestyle sections, and in the event of extraordinary circumstances, it can also be used as a single unit. The control room is also new, from which five automatic cameras and four screens in the studio are operated. Furthermore, the channel has its own production control room, independent of the other TV Nova channels, so the broadcast schedule can be changed within a matter of moments. “During major events, for example, we are able to switch to continuous broadcasting. In the past, we covered events such as the start of the war in Ukraine or the death of Queen Elizabeth II in this way, broadcasting special programmes for dozens of hours,” concludes Martin Synek
Source: mediaguru.cz