MOSCOW, April 6, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CTC Media, Inc. ("CTC Media" or "the Company") (Nasdaq:CTCM), Russia's leading independent media company, announces that CTC Media's Channel 31 in Kazakhstan reached its highest ever audience share of 14.8% during the first quarter of 2011 in its target demographic according to TNS Central Asia. This is an important milestone in the channel's history, and the achievement is the result of a successful three-year cooperation between CTC Media and Channel 31 which began on March 31, 2008.
Channel 31's target audience share of 6 to 54 year-old viewers was 10.5% in the first quarter of 2010, 12.7% in the first quarter of 2009 and 7.5% in the first quarter of 2008. The channel's ratings breakthrough is the result of a strong development strategy, the successful launch of own-production programs since September 2009 and the ongoing successful collaboration between Channel 31 and CTC Media's content and scheduling teams. Channel 31 is currently the second most watched television channel in Kazakhstan.
Channel 31's revenue share of Kazakh television advertising market doubled since 2008 to reach 13.5% for the full-year 2010, while the target audience share for the same period reached 11.4%. As at the end of 2009, Channel 31 generated a positive OIBDA margin and a high power ratio, a trend that continued into 2010, with the 2010 power ratio increasing by 6% to 1.26.
Marat Devlet-Kildeyev, Head of the CIS Group for CTC Media, commented: "The unprecedented growth in Channel 31's audience share for the first quarter of 2011 is the result of our meticulous daily work. A lot has been done, in essence, we spent all of the second half of 2009 and 2010 preparing for this success. We successfully restructured the channel during a major global economic downturn, reorganized our programming function both in Kazakhstan and Moscow, strengthened our relations with the global and regional content suppliers and achieved stellar financial results. One of Channel 31's major breakthroughs has been to start the production of its own phenomenally successful Kazakh-language entertainment programs, which made a tremendous contribution to the audience share growth. All of this combined has enabled us to outsmart our competition and to strengthen our market position. While I am very pleased with our achievements in the first quarter of 2011, we are not going to stop here – we are planning to further enhance our results."
Nurjan Mukhamedjanova, General Director of Channel 31, commented: "More than anything, the success of our channel is down to the work of its creative team. We are constantly analyzing our audience and try to take into account all its preferences when modeling our programming grid. The success of our programming can be partly attributed to the level of entertainment it provides, which leaves our viewers in a good mood and with a positive attitude towards the world."
About Channel 31
With headquarters in Almaty, Channel 31 in Kazakhstan began broadcasting in April 1992. From March 31, 2008 the programming grid changed into a pure entertainment format. TV-radio company Channel 31 and CTC Media entered into an agreement and created a new company, "Channel 31 Group". The programming grid consists of content from CTC Media and other Russian, local and foreign content providers. The majority of Channel 31's free-to-air broadcasting in Kazakhstan consists of own-production programs in Kazakh language.
For further information, please visit: www.31.kz
About CTC Media, Inc.
CTC Media is a leading independent media company in Russia, with operations throughout Russia and elsewhere in the CIS. It operates three free-to-air television networks in Russia – CTC, Domashny and DTV – as well as Channel 31 in Kazakhstan and TV company in Moldova, with a combined potential audience of over 150 million people. The international pay-TV version of the CTC channel is available in North America, Israel and Germany. CTC Media also owns two TV content production companies, Costafilm and Soho Media. The Company's common stock is traded on The NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol "CTCM". For more information on CTC Media, please visit www.ctcmedia.ru.