Publishers scramble for TV guide titles
By : Anna Kocinska
H. Bauer acquired To i Owo (This and That) last week in a deal that would give the German publisher nearly one-third of Poland's lucrative TV guide sector.
"The takeover of To i Owo guarantees us a 29% share of the TV guide market," said Witold Wozniak, president of H. Bauer.
The 550,000 weekly To i Owo, a TV guide published by Lodz-based Midas, is mainly aimed at a male audience. "We provide the most complete information on available content in Poland, and additionally we provide news on satellite technology," said Andrzej Marciniak, deputy editor in chief of To i Owo. According to Wozniak, To i Owo will diversify Bauer's TV guide portfolio, which already includes Tele Tydzien (Tele Week) with a circulation of 1.94 million, Tele Swiat (Tele World) and Imperium TV (Empire TV). "TV guides are a very attractive market segment for advertisers," Wozniak said. "Every year brings 30% growth in our ad revenue from TV guides. Advertisers appreciate the segment's value."
According to Wroclaw-based market research company Expert Monitor, Tele Tydzien's ad sales increased from zl. 25 million ($6.25 million) in 1999 to zl. 36.5 million ($9.12 million) last year. To i Owo saw sales climb from zl. 3.4 million ($0.85 million) in 1999 to zl. 5 million ($1.25 million) in 2000.
H. Bauer was not the only company interested in buying To i Owo. Axel Springer Polska, another German publisher, is also looking to strengthen its position on the Polish market.
"Yes, we have been in contact with To i Owo," said Florian Fels, vice president of Axel Springer Polska. "We still think that Axel should develop in different markets. It already operates on the women's magazine market, for instance, but it's absent from the TV guide market." According to Fels, Axel had also expressed interest in acquiring Antena, a TV guide owned by public broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP), but it backed out of the tender. "It would only make sense to have both Antena and To i Owo," Fels said.
He added that Axel was still considering tackling Poland's TV guide market, but that it would not start a magazine from scratch. "If you compare Poland to Germany, the German market is much more diversified," Fels said. "Here you have only TV weeklies, but in Germany you have monthlies, semimonthlies, etc. Sooner or later it will happen in Poland."
