Croatia
A media industry that has experienced radical change over the past decade
Media pluralism, diversity and freedom are protected under the country’s constitution, which bans censorship and guarantees press freedom. As Croatia moves towards accession to the EU, expected to take place by 2011, remarkable progress has been made since the 2000 election of a more democratic government to replace the former regime, which was marked by corruption and autocracy and oversaw the country’s destructive post-independence war of 1991-1995. The new legislative framework, enshrined in The Media Law of 2004 established transparency rules for all media, whilst the Law on Electronic Media of 2003 sets limits on cross-media ownership.
Public radio strong, however private broadcasters enjoy high audience rankings in a segmented sector
The Croatian radio landscape is dominated by the public broadcaster, Hrvatska Radio (HR), part of the state-owned Hrvatska Radio-Televizija (HRT). Three public stations, HR1, HR2 and HR3, are broadcast nationwide, whilst eight further stations broadcast regionally, and Voice of Croatia broadcasts to Croatians living abroad via shortwave, medium wave, satellite and online. Over recent years, HR has held top-ten audience rankings for two national and as many as four local stations. HRT is 60% funded by the licence fee, which is set annually according to the population’s average net salary of the previous year and is currently approximately €100 per household with at least one television or radio receiver. The remaining funding comes from advertising revenues, which are more tightly restricted than for private stations. The broadcaster is regulated by the HRT Act of 2003.
Popular nationwide stations include Radio Narodini, established in 1997 and featuring pop music, reviews and news, Radio Otovoreni, also first broadcast in 1997 and featuring a varied programme of pop music, and Radio 101, claiming to be the first independent broadcaster in the region and operating since 1984 featuring news, current affairs and indie music, and popular in Zagreb amongst foreigners and up-scale listeners. In 2008, a new radio franchise called Radio Antena Zagreb was launched, and it has recently achieved excellent audience ratings in the Zagreb region.
The Croatian radio market is strongly marked by segmentation, with diversity and competition coming from more than 130 local stations catering to the needs of local audiences. The majority of counties in Croatia have two or more strong radio competitors.
A 2006 report into Croatian media by the Institute for International Relations (IMO) in Zagreb identified five types of ownership in radio companies: private persons holding over 75 percent of the shares in a station, representing 55% of the total Croatian radio audience; the public stations of HR, representing 22% of the audience; public-private partnerships involving private individuals and local governments, representing 15% of the audience (markedly varied by county); stations fully controlled by local governments, representing 6% of the audience (markedly varied by county); and radio stations owned by churches, representing 2% of the audience.
Stable listening, rising Internet use, but ad revenues hit by recession
Radio listening in Croatia is stable, however these is an increasing influence of Internet usage on the consumption of radio, and listening is dropping among young target groups. Internet radio is gaining importance in the country, and many stations feature audio streaming on their websites. However, whilst broadband penetration and overall Internet usage rates are experiencing very high rates of increase and are higher than for many countries in South-Eastern Europe, they remain below the European average. There have not been any recent milestones in the development of digital radio. Radio audience measurement in Croatia is carried out by the Computer Aided Telephone Interview (CATI) method, with the research company AGB Nielsen Media Research in joint venture with Puls currently providing research in the country. Several different organisations and institutes have released audience surveys in the country over recent years.
Advertising revenues for both public and private radio stations in Croatia held steady at €66 million between 2006 and 2008, representing approximately 13% of the overall advertising market. However, the economic downturn caused dramatic reductions in radio adspend in 2009, with total net adspend for radio estimated to be €30.6 million (HRT estimate) for the year. Both the public and private sector were badly hit, and the recession presents an ongoing challenge to the industry. Major sectors investing in radio advertising in 2008 included shopping malls, the automotive industry and telecommunications.
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