Media and Advertising Market Trends of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2021

The economic context

The economic dynamics in 2021 brought a turning point and a recovery to the BiH economy, and made it possible to make up for what was lost during the recession in the pandemic year of 2020. 

GDP grew by 7.1% and salaries by 4.5% compared to the previous year. These figures are the result of high level of private consumption and the excellent positioning of Bosnian exporters in the face of increased global demand caused by the negative consequences of the pandemic, especially regarding exports to the EU.

The political context

2021 was a post-election year in Bosnia and Herzegovina. During the elections of 2020, major commitments were made, and a push toward achieving them was expected last year. However, those expectations were rarely fulfilled.

No matter how big the advertising pie becomes, it will not be sufficient for establishing or maintaining the independence of all media outlets. Several media companies in the market are linked directly to politics. The newest case of this context is a TV-station called ATV that is under sanctions by the US Government in response to its owner’s (Milorad Dodik’s) corrupt activities. Another case is related to a new regional TV-project whose ownership is linked to politics as well. A lot of new digital media are established with the shade of politics, and based on the content they produce, it is not even difficult to see which side they support.

Trends of media consumption

Television remains the most dominant media, both from the perspective of coverage and the average representation in the media mix of advertisers. In terms of viewing time, Bosnia & Herzegovina is still among the leaders in Central and Eastern Europe. The total TV-viewing time remained high in 2021, averaging 5h30m (the same as in 2020). 

The ratio of the audience of domestic vs. „other” channels was 43% to 57%. Unfortunately, detailed audience information on the 250+ channels belonging to the „other” category is still not available. Among domestic TV-channels, NOVA BH was the leader with a share of 6.97%, followed by PINK BH (6.17%) and BN TV (5.49%). 

Mobile internet usage is rising, while other media consumption is in stagnation.

The local media market

Although Bosnia and Herzegovina has no specialized organization that deals with measuring the media and advertising market, indicators in this segment are also positive. Our agency estimates that the market grew 15.6% YoY, mainly due to the increase of advertising investments after the pandemic and the positive effects of the general inflation on the TV-market. 

Audience Measurement Ltd, the official provider of TV-viewing data, and TV AdEx conducted a new Establishment Survey at the beginning of the year. The data gathered during the survey show the social and demographic features of the local population, the penetration and characteristics of the television-set ownership in each home and information on the local TV environment. The new survey was initiated because there is no new official census planned yet, while major demographic changes are happening on a yearly basis. Due to the household changes in the panel, a drop in the overall audience was noticed.

The inflation in the TV market reached 12-24%, the highest point in TV-prices of the recent past – according to marketing and media consultancy Ebiquity. TV remains the most dominant media regarding advertising investments, with an average market share of 65%. In spite of all the above, some of the domestic channels sell out all their commercial blocks in popular parts of the day. 

TV-channel Nova BH is back on the lists of major cable/IPTV providers, and that had an effect on its viewership. ATV returned to the official TV-research and CPP-buying method. Regional Balkan TV has presented the new station UNA TV, launched at the end of 2021.

Total digital advertising investments are on the rise, following the trend of very high user rate figures. The estimated average market share of digital media was 15% last year.