Premieres of new global series are one of the key motivators for streaming service customers to invest in paid subscriptions. Local series premieres are also tempting, but - especially for the globalised Generation Z - they lag behind foreign titles in the region's markets, according to WPP Media's VideoTrack CEE study, which examined streaming in the markets of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania.
Viewers from all markets in the region consider US series to be the best. Online viewers in Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary associate them with the highest production quality, with local series ranking second in all markets. There is a clear correlation between age and preference - the older the viewer, the stronger their attachment to local series, with Romania being the only exception where young viewers are relatively more appreciative of local productions than others.
Serials are not only one of the categories that are considered most beneficial for investing in streaming, but also represent an attraction when buying a subscription. This is true not only for new series, but also for access to entire series of popular shows. These 'soothing' older titles - according to Plum Research data - now provide streaming platforms with long hours of viewing, which will be an important asset for them with the introduction of ad-supported tariffs.
Netflix and HBO lead the way
Netflix and HBO are considered the creators of the best series in all markets in the region. Disney is also in the top 3 in Poland, Pro TV in Romania and Czech Television in the Czech Republic. The Czech ranking of series creators is the most 'local' among the markets studied , with Nova and Prima completing the top 5.
Poland is the only country in the region where no local broadcaster made it into the top five best series creators in this study. However, it is worth highlighting the investment of global streaming services in the Polish market - most of Netflix's regional original series premieres from CEE countries come from Poland, HBO Max is also making significant investments, and Prime Video and, more recently, Disney have also launched their first Polish series premieres.
Local productions still strong on TV
While sports, news or entertainment (such as talent competitions) are still the domain of traditional TV, the VideoTrack CEE study shows that discovering new series is already more associated with streaming among online viewers from Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Hungary. In the first half of this year, global hit series gained the largest audience on Netflix, the largest platform in the CEE region, with "Squid Game" and "Adolescence " ranking in the top 3 most popular series on the platform in all markets. That's according to data from Plum Research, which tracks the popularity of programs on streaming services. Plum Research measured the percentage of so-called unique viewers, the number of accounts that started watching a given series.
Despite the huge popularity of series on streaming, the genre remains key to traditional TV, where local hits dominated in the first half of 2025. Top series productions are still delivering double-digit viewership shares for broadcasters in the region. Most of the most popular TV series in the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and Hungary are productions deeply rooted in local realities, often with a long history on the air (see Poland's "M jak miłość" with a 25-year history or "Las Fierbinti" from Romania, broadcast for 13 years).
The VideoTrack research was conducted by WPP Media in March, May and June 2025 in the markets of Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania, with a total sample of 6,000 internet viewers aged 16 and over. VideoTrack CEE is the regional edition of the streaming research that Wavemaker and WPP Media (formerly GroupM) have been conducting in Poland for almost a decade. WPP Media surveys internet viewers, defined as people who watch movies, TV series and other long-form (professional) video content online.
Source