At the start of NATPE Budapest on Monday, June 24, Georgi R. Chakarov, President and CEO TVBIZZ Group, had the honor to present the CEE Breakout Hits 2024 - CEETV's annual selection of the shows that "changed the game" in their respective markets during the past TV season in Central and Eastern Europe. This year's Breakout Hits are:

15 Questions

A finalist in last year’s PITCH & PLAY LIVE!, 15 Questions made its debut in the daily primetime of Kanal 2 last fall, turning into a real sensation. The quiz not only dominated its slot with over 100.000 viewers every night, but also turned its contestants into real stars. In spring, the show even beat the most watched quiz in Estonia – Jeopardy!, aired on Sunday nights on Kanal 2.


Idols

RTL Croatia quite bravely and successfully revived the veteran talent show from Fremantle during the fall 2023 season. Promotion of the big comeback started already around Christmas 2022 and then the big campaign for the show and the stellar lineup of jurors led by superstar Severina built up the high expectations. The new Idols clearly dominated the Saturday night slot reaching nearly a million viewers every night with the finale scoring 26.5% share in the commercial demo.


The Witch

“The Greek answer to Game of Thrones” bewitched the Greek viewers during the 2023/2024 season. The Witch regularly led its slot on ANT1 and put an end to the domination of Alpha’s series in the Greek primetime. The season finale scored the excellent 18.2% share in the commercial demo.


Star Boxing

RTL had lost the first two months of the fall season in Hungary to TV2 when Star Boxing kicked off in its Sunday primetime. The show which returned on the channel after a break of 18 years literally crashed TV2’s long-running hit Your Face Sounds Familiar. The season wrapped up with 30.3% share in the 18-49 demo, numbers that RTL had not seen in its Sunday primetime for many years.


IDJshow

Serbian Nova has been adapting big formats like Survivor and The Biggest Loser in recent years, but the biggest hit of the channel is its original show IDJshow. The decision to bring the kids talent format from the kids net IDJ TV to Nova delivered excellent results in the fall. The second season won its Sunday 22.30-24.00 slot and also set numerous records on YouTube and TikTok with individual episodes reaching up to 1.5 million views.


Hidden in Paradise

The first joint production of Pro Plus and RTL Croatia, both part of CME, delivered chart-topping results on POP TV in Slovenia this spring. The daily series premiered with 44% share in its primetime slot and counted 75 episodes for its first season averaging 39% share.


Blooming Lady

Adapted from the hit Korean format Doctor Cha, Blooming Lady made a splash in the Turkish primetime this spring. The series got off to a strong start in mid-February with 13.97% share in the key AB demo, and by late April Show TV reported the spectacular 39.18% share in the commercial demo, making the series one of the few new phenomenal hits to come out of Turkey in the 2023/24 season.


The Floor

The Floor made history in Ukraine as the first local show to be produced in the Netherlands with Ukrainian contestants in a unique collaboration between Talpa and Starlight Media. The show premiered in March on Novy with 10.95% share in the Urban 18-54 demo, ranking second overall for the week. The format’s success helped to “rediscover” the quiz show genre in Ukraine where such shows for many years were believed not to be interesting for the local viewers.


Who Knew?

bTV “took a risk” this spring and launched a quiz show in its primetime - the Bulgarian version of Who Knew? – though with a short “experimental” run, but the result was impressive and unexpected. The Fremantle format won its 20.00 slot reaching 27% share in the commercial demo and total viewers – a rare PT win for the channel during the season.


Sense of Tumor

CT1’s remake of Sense of Tumor became the number one program in the Sunday primetime in the first half of the spring season in Czechia with an average of 1.35 million viewers and 31.05% share. The reach of the entire series was 2.97 million viewers. Of the total viewership, 48% was delayed. An average of 110.000 viewers over the age of four streamed it online.


Betrayal

Slovak Markiza continued to enjoy huge success with its adaptations of British scripted formats this spring. Following adaptation of Liar, the channel launched its remake of Doctor Foster. Betrayal debuted with 589.000 viewers in February, outperforming Liar’s premiere in February 2023 (506.000 viewers). The drama series achieved up to 30% share in the new commercial demo 13-55.