After 12 years, PRO TV is worth one billion dollars

“Good evening, Romania! Good evening, Bucharest!” It has been 12 years since that December 1, 1995 when Andreea Esca used these words to announce the launch of the PRO TV channel, a channel that reinvented the concept of television in Romania. In the meantime, PRO TV has also launched the Acasa, PRO TV International, PRO Cinema and Sport.ro TV channels, with the market value of the whole group reaching one billion dollars, a 50-fold increase compared with the initial 20 million-dollar investment, conducted by the American group Central European Media Enterprises (CME) in 1995. Back then, Romania was neither a NATO nor a European Union member, foreign investors were very few, and the economy was in a very poor shape. PRO TV has become one of the best-known local brands to be built from scratch after 1989, ranking 38th in the Most Valuable Companies in Romania ranking in terms of market value (a ranking put together by ZIARUL FINANCIAR), given that most companies already existed in 1989, and were privatised later. In the first nine months of the year, the five TV channels had a cumulated 135.97 million-dollar turnover, up 40.3% against the same time in 2006, and the EBITDA climbed 43.8%, to 39.75 million dollars. The full-year estimates of CME, the majority shareholder of the television channels point to total revenues worth 200 million dollars and an EBITDA of 88.7 million dollars. These figures reflect the quality of programmes of PRO TV and of the other four channels, which shows in ratings, a general barometer for advertisers who buy advertising. “Our performance is based on several key elements: we are very perceptive about our viewers’ expectations, we invest in our human resources, and we are constantly looking to increase the force of our brand. PRO TV’s business means adapting to the public’s expectations, professionalism, creativity and consistency. We pursue our objectives and we work hard. We take responsibility for who we are, we have ideas, we try not to be too repetitive, and we put on a show,” says Anca Budinschi, executive manager of PRO TV.