Central and Eastern European broadcasters have a unique opportunity to strengthen their position before global streaming giants fully turn their attention to the region, according to CME CEO Sam Barnett, who delivered one of the keynote sessions at NEM Dubrovnik 2026 on Tuesday.

Interviewed by BBC News presenter Kasia Madera, Barnett offered a detailed assessment of the challenges facing broadcasters across Central and Eastern Europe, emphasizing that local content, cultural specificity, digital transformation, and strategic use of artificial intelligence will determine which media companies thrive in the coming decade.

Speaking nearly a year after taking the helm of Central European Media Enterprises, Barnett argued that local broadcasters possess an advantage that is often overlooked: their deep understanding of national audiences and cultures.

“Local media is hugely important,” Barnett said. “How do we defend ourselves against the YouTubes who are sucking up all of the advertising dollars and the streamers who will come in and dominate the scene? Geography matters a lot. The fact that we are a series of reasonably small countries with our separate languages, there are nuances of different cultures and content requirements.”

According to Barnett, the fragmented nature of the CEE region, often viewed as a challenge for broadcasters seeking scale, can actually become a competitive advantage. While multinational streaming services have built global platforms based on large-language markets, Central and Eastern Europe remains a patchwork of distinct cultures, languages, and viewing habits that require localized approaches.

“It’d be great if we could make content in Bulgaria, and then ship it out to Romania, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, but it doesn’t work like that,” he noted. “It’s a big opportunity for us because it creates barriers to entry for the large American streamers, which means local players now have a huge opportunity. I think bigger than ever before.”

The issue of content travelability has long been a topic of debate among broadcasters in the region. Barnett acknowledged that some formats and genres do successfully cross borders but stressed that there are clear limits.

He pointed to the Czech version of Love Island as a format that performs well in Slovenia and noted that scripted productions from Serbia and Croatia can find audiences elsewhere in the former Yugo markets. However, travelability is far from universal.

“Slovenian scripted content doesn’t move back so easily. Bulgarian music content moves very well everywhere,” Barnett explained. “Authentic local content can actually move across borders, but it’s those nuances and the tonality of content. You can’t just make one and blast it across the whole region and expect it to work.”

His comments underline a broader trend across CEE, where broadcasters have increasingly focused on highly localized productions rather than attempting to create pan-regional hits. The success of domestic dramas, entertainment formats, and reality programs in individual markets has demonstrated that viewers continue to value stories and personalities that reflect their own cultures and experiences.

Barnett also identified support for local production industries as one of the key responsibilities and opportunities for broadcasters. Rather than seeing artificial intelligence primarily as a cost-cutting tool, he argued that it should be used to elevate production quality and increase competitiveness.

“There’s a big opportunity at the moment,” he said.

Using a hypothetical example, Barnett suggested that a production budget of €100.000 per episode could theoretically be reduced to €75.000 through the use of AI-driven efficiencies. However, CME has chosen a different approach.

“What we’ve said is take the €100.000 now, please make it look like a €200.000 episode,” he said. “You can add in scenes, you can do special effects, you can do all sorts of things that you couldn’t do before.”

For Barnett, AI represents a chance for regional broadcasters to narrow the gap with the global streaming services without attempting to match their enormous spending levels.

“We can try to match what the larger streamers are doing. Now, we’re not going to be doing $5 million per episode budgets, but we can certainly be as ambitious in terms of our quality and the scope of what we’re doing, which means that local content kind of gets a huge boost.”

The CME chief repeatedly returned to the competitive threat posed by global platforms, particularly Netflix and YouTube. While he acknowledged their growing influence, he believes the largest streamers have yet to fully prioritize many smaller Central and Eastern European territories.

“We are now ultimately playing against the American streamers,” Barnett said. “Local media is hugely important – how we defend against the YouTubes, who are sucking up the advertising dollars and funneling out to the U.S., and the streamers, who will come in and dominate the scene.”

Yet he also argued that the region still has time to strengthen its position before facing the full force of international competition.

“They’re not spending $18 billion in this part of the world,” he observed when discussing content investment levels.

Using a military metaphor, Barnett suggested that broadcasters in smaller markets should use their local strengths to their advantage.

“If you’re resisting, try to be a small country with large mountains, don’t be a large one with flat plains,” he said. “They’re going to Germany, to France, next will be Poland, Asia and so on. It will be a while before they come here, which is where the opportunity is.”

That window of opportunity, he argued, should be used to invest aggressively in premium local programming and technological innovation.

“Can we expand and invest in our local premium content development? Can we use the AI tricks or whatever else we can to make sure that we’re producing world-class content, which will be relevant and credible, so that we can be that local content utility?”

Barnett believes viewers will continue to subscribe to international streaming services, but that does not mean local broadcasters are destined to lose relevance.

“When they come, people will still want their Netflix subscription, but they will also want the local content as well and we will be there,” he said.

Central to CME’s future strategy are four priorities that Barnett outlined during the session: premium local content, defending linear television, accelerating digital growth, and building strong local brands.

“We have four pillars for our corporate strategy: premium content, defend linear, grow digital as quickly as possible and build strong local brands,” he said.

Among those priorities, digital transformation stands out as the most urgent.

“If we don’t do the digital piece, then we will become irrelevant, I think, within a few years’ time.”

At the same time, Barnett rejected the notion that traditional television is nearing extinction. He argued that linear broadcasting continues to play a critical role in delivering news, sports, live events, and major entertainment formats.

“We will hopefully keep the linear going for as long as possible, and linear will have a very long tail and continue to be an important part for news, live events, sports, the big shows—Got Talent, The Voice—these things still work very well on TV.”

His comments reflect a reality seen across much of Central and Eastern Europe, where linear television remains significantly stronger than in many Western European markets and continues to attract substantial audiences and advertising revenues.

Barnett concluded by emphasizing the importance of cooperation among local media companies as they navigate the transition to digital platforms and face increasing competition from international technology giants.

“We need local media cooperating, working together to try and support that growth on digital,” he said.