Central European Media Enterprises – CME’s PRO TV, Antena 1 – owned by local Intact media group, and Kanal D – owned by Turkish group Dogan were the three most watched TV channels in Romania in 2015, in Prime-Time as well as throughout the day, according to official measurements provided by Kantar Media/ARMA and quoted by Paginademedia.ro.

Prime-Time is the interval between 19:00 and 23:00 when the number of people watching TV is the highest. This is why most TV channels have special strategies for this interval, trying to get as many people as possible to watch them. The evening news, blockbuster movies, talk shows, and important football matches are only some of the programs broadcasted in Prime-Time.

PRO TV remained the most watched TV channel in Romania in 2015, with an average 1.5 million people watching it every day in Prime-Time. However, the channel lost about 150,000 viewers compared to 2014.

Antena 1 also lost viewers last year, going down from an average of over one million in 2014 to 940,000 in 2015. Third-placed Kanal D, however, managed to increase its viewership, reaching and average 905,000 people each evening in 2015, up from 822,000 in 2014, thus gaining market share.

Antena 3 was the fourth most watched TV channel and the most watched news channel in Romania in Prime-Time, in 2015, but with a declining viewership (from 542,000 to 475,000). National TV, a TV station owned by local investors Ioan and Viorel Micula, was fifth, with 390,000 viewers, down from 453,000 viewers in 2014.

Romania TV, a news channel controlled by controversial businessman Sebastian Ghita, recorded a strong increase in viewership (from 301,000 to 355,000), thus going up to the sixth spot. Acasa TV, a soap opera channel owned by CME, also managed to draw more viewers (334,000 compared to 284,000 in the previous year) and went up to number 7.

Meanwhile, Romania’s national television channel TVR1 lost more than 60,000 viewers in Prime-Time (down to 314,000) and went down to 8th in this ranking. Prima TV, a private TV channel, lost more than 100,000 viewers on average (to 260,000), and tumbled to number 9.

The tenth most watched TV channel in Prime-Time in Romania last year was Antena Stars, an entertainment channel owned by Intact, which had 174,000 viewers on average.

The Prime-Time ranking which takes into account only the commercial segment represented by urban viewers aged 18 to 49, is also led by PRO TV, with 461,000 viewers (9.1 rating points), followed at a distance by Antena 1 (269,000 viewers – 5.3 rating points), and Kanal D (153,000 viewers – 3 rating points). Acasa TV is fourth in this ranking, with 90,000 viewers (1.8 rating points) while public channel TVR1 is just 9th with 37,000 viewers (0.7 rating points).

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editor@romania-insider.com