Adrian Sarbu, CEO of CME; MediaPro, sold for $97,6M

Central European Media Enterprises (CME) on Tuesday appointed its president and chief operating officer Adrian Sarbu in the position of Chief Executive Officer, the company announced.

Also Tuesday, CME announced that the company and its CEO Adrian Sarbu signed an agreement to get all the entertainment operations of MediaPro, controlled by Sarbu, in a complex deal estimated at $97.6 million by Merrill Lynch.

MediaPro Entertainment includes Media Pro Pictures, Media Pro Studios, Media Pro Distribution, Pro Video, Media Pro Music & Entertainment, Cinema Pro, Hollywood Multiplex, the majority stake in Domino , which produces clips, and Media Pro Pictures sro – film operations in the Czech Republic.

Romania Online Advertising Mkt Up 70% On Yr In ’08, To RON72.5M – Study

Romania’s online advertising market increased 70% in 20008, to 72.41 million lei (EUR1=RON4.1928) from RON42.6 million in 2007, according to the latest edition of Romanian Online Advertising Study (ROADS) drafted by IAB Romania and PwC Romania.

According to ROADS, online advertising in the first half of last year was 110% higher in value compared to the first half of 2007, while growth in the second half of the year was of 46% compared to the same period in 2007.

In euro, the total value of Romania’s online advertising market was of about EUR20 million in 2008.

“2008 was a pretty good year for online advertising in Romania. It would have been better if it hadn’t been for a slowdown in the fourth quarter. In other words, if it hadn’t been for the crisis, we could have seen the market doubling in value. I hope 2009 won’t be as bad as speculations would have it so far,” said Cristi Petriceanu, head of IAB Romania.

The Romanian Online Advertising Study has compiled the direct sales of 11 companies, including the country’s main online advertising providers and top independent publishers (with significant direct sales), which represent a total of about 600 websites. The study takes into account net values.

Based on the values reported, PricewaterhouseCoopers structured investments in the Romanian online advertising market by formats used, categories of advertisers who used online advertising and considered seasonal differences.

via Mediafax, with many thanks for saving me from translating

CNN To Feature Romania In “Autumn Of Change” Series

American TV network CNN will produce several reports in Romania this year, as part of the series “Autumn of Change” on former Communist countries 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, PR firm Links Associates said in a statement Thursday (May 14th).

For one week, the series “Autumn of Change” will feature accounts on the Revolution of 1989 and the changes in the last two decades. Richard Quest, Christiane Amanpour and Becky Anderson, representative journalists for CNN, will be in Romania to interview participants in the events, young people born after 1989 and Romanian public figures.

A CNN team was in Bucharest in late April, meeting with central authority officials and celebrities, to establish preliminary contact for “Autumn of Change.”

In order to promote its editorial and advertising, marketing and PR activities, CNN Global Networks is working in Romania with Links Associates, a strategic communications, PR and lobby company founded by Corina Vintan, formerly the National Defense Ministry spokesperson.

Via Mediafax

Time Warner Completes $241.5M Deal For 31% In Broadcaster CME

U.S. media group Time Warner Inc. on Monday said it completed a $241.1 million deal for a 31% stake in Central European Media Enterprises (CME), owner of Romania’s media trust PRO TV.

Under the deal, Time Warner received 19 million newly issued common shares of CME, consisting of 14.5 million shares of class A stock at $12 per share and 4.5 million shares of class B stock at $15.

Time Warner will also get two seats on CME’s board.

The info was posted on CME and Time Warner sites.

CNN to produce reports in Romania

That was a very nice news I found out yesterday via Links Associates, that represents CNN Global Network in Romania.

What is all about? To be clear and correct, I’ll quote Mediafax:

The American TV network CNN will produce several reports in Romania this year, as part of the series “Autumn of Change” on former Communist countries 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, PR firm Links Associates said in a statement Thursday.

For one week, the series “Autumn of Change” will feature accounts on the Revolution of 1989 and the changes in the last two decades.

Richard Quest, Christiane Amanpour and Becky Anderson, representative journalists for CNN, will be in Romania to interview participants in the events, young people born after 1989 and Romanian public figures.

A CNN team was in Bucharest in late April, meeting with central authority officials and celebrities, to establish preliminary contact for “Autumn of Change.”

In order to promote its editorial and advertising, marketing and PR activities, CNN Global Networks is working in Romania with Links Associates, a strategic communications, PR and lobby company founded by Corina Vintan, formerly the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson.

Time Warner to aquire 31% interest in CME

CME today announced that Time Warner will invest US$241.5 million in the company.

For this investment, Time Warner will receive 19 million newly issued CME common shares, consisting of 14.5 million shares of Class A Common Stock at a price of US$12.00 per share and 4.5 million shares of Class B Common Stock at a price of US$15.00 per share – approximately a 31% interest in CME.

In connection with this transaction, Time Warner is agreeing to allow CME founder and Non-Executive Chairman Ronald S. Lauder to vote Time Warner’s shares of CME for at least four years, subject to certain exceptions.

The transaction is expected to close before the end of the second quarter of 2009.

In addition, Warner Bros. and CME have separately agreed to form a partnership to launch and operate new thematic television channels in current CME territories. These channels, some of which will be Warner Bros. branded, will feature international films and television series, including titles from Warner Bros.’ industry-leading library.

More about this on CME’s website

Romtelecom names Graffiti BBDO to handle its creation account

Romtelecom appointed Graffiti BBDO Bucharest to handle its creation account. Before, the account was managed by Grey Bucharest.

The contract was signed for two years and Graffiti BBDO will handle the creation, strategy and planning  project and events.

Online advertising market in Romania: RON 42,603,201 in 2007, according to “Romanian Online Advertising Study” (ROADS)

Here’s the translation of the press release, available in Romanian on Ionut’s blog :

Online advertising market in Romania: RON 42,603,201 in 2007, according to “Romanian Online Advertising Study” (ROADS)

Bucharest, December 17th 2008:  “Romanian Online Advertising Study”(ROADS), made by IAB Romania (www.iab-romania.ro) and PricewaterhouseCoopers Romania and measuring the value of Romanian online advertising market, shows that, during 2007, the budgets attracted by online advertising were of RON 42,603,201, while, in S1, the value of the budgets invested in online advertising was of RON 33,873,413.

In 2007, the Romanian online advertising market attracted, according to ROADS, net budgets of RON 42,603,201, not including VAT. The value was based on the direct sales values from the most important 11 companies from online market (sales houses and independent publishers).

“This study offers, for the first time in Romania, real numbers, based on the effective sales of the biggest companies in the industry, replacing the estimates made until now”, Ovidiu Florea, IAB Romania’s President and Managing Partner Media Investment.

“PricewaterhouseCoopers Romania team that worked to make the study made for the first time this kind of research on the Romanian online market, using a methodology that is widely used on international level and that is applied in the countries with strong online markets for ten years already. We want this analysis to be a convincing argument so more and more companies to join for the next edition of the study, as it’s happening in other European countries, where PricewaterhouseCoopers and IAB established alredy a tradition in realising this study”, Ruxandra Bandila, Marketing & Business Development Director – PricewaterhouseCoopers Romania, said.

 “Romanian Online Advertising Study” aggregated the sales declarations from 11 companies, including the main online sales houses and the main independent publishers (with important direct sales), that represent, together, over 700 sites.

Based on those aggregated info, the experts from PricewaterhouseCoopers structured the total investments in the Romanian online advertising, taking in consideration the main advertising formats, the categories of advertisers  that used the online ads, and also the months in each semester for showing the evolution of the market in each season. The first edition of ROADS analysed three semesters: both semesters in 2007 and the first semester in 2008.

The complete report of the study includes almost 60 pages, tables and detailed graphics on each of the three directions of analysis, and also the main links between them, showing a complete image of the Romanian online advertising market. The report is be distributed free of charges to the members of IAB Romania, along with the similar report at European level made by IAB Europe.

The next edition of the study made by IAB Romania and PricewaterhouseCoopers will start collecting date at the start of 2009, will include the data analysis for the second semester of 2008 and a complete analysis of the year, along with a comparison between the data for 2007 and 2008.

The study will be published every semester, showing the results in the semester before, offering twice a year data regarding the evolution of Romanian online advertising market

You can get other info regarding “Romanian Online Advertising Study”(ROADS) and IAB Romania’s activity contacting:

Ionut Oprea, 0721.614.964
Executive Director IAB Romania
ionut.oprea@iab-romania.ro

Regarding IAB Romania

IAB Romania (www.iab-romania.ro) was founded in 2006 and gathers together the most important companies in Romanian online advertising: sales houses, advertising agencies, online advertising services providers and local publishers.

IAB Romania is a professional association that has as main purpose to protect and promote the professional interests and investments made on Romanian online advertising market, to elaborate standards for the industry and to create the frame for self-reglementation.

IAB Romania is a member of IAB Europe (www.iabeurope.eu), joining as a founding member during the reconfiguration of the association in 2008.

Adrian Sarbu appointed President and COO at CME

Central European Media Enterprises Ltd. announced that, effective January 1, 2009, Michael Garin is retiring as Chief Executive Officer of the company. Mr. Garin will continue to be involved with CME as Vice-Chairman of the Board.

Michael Garin was appointed Chief Executive Officer of CME in 2004 and under his leadership CME grew to become the leading broadcaster in Central and Eastern Europe operating 22 TV networks. Mr. Garin was instrumental in defining the company’s strategy and its growth over the last five years.

Adrian Sarbu, Chief Operating Officer, has been appointed President of the Company and will continue to serve as Chief Operating Officer. 

The full text of the press release is here

Rudolph Giuliani, impressed by Bucharest

Romania’s capital city is a beautiful, clean city, and its inhabitants should be proud of it, New York’s former mayor Rudolph Giuliani said Friday, after the meeting with Bucharest’s mayor Sorin Oprescu, according to Mediafax

 When asked what he thinks of the traffic in Bucharest, Giuliani said traffic is both good and bad; it is bad because it takes a lot of time to cross the entire city, but it would be the last thing to have a city without traffic.