STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Dec. 10, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Modern Times Group MTG AB (Nasdaq:MTGNY), the international media group, today announced that last week saw further ratings success for the TV3 television channel in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. TV3 Sweden achieved its second highest share of viewing since August 2001 and an all time high number of viewers for the Sunday night movie. TV3 Sweden's average share of prime time viewing (between 6 p.m. and 11:30 p.m.) since the beginning of September amongst the target 15-44 year old age group is now higher than for the same period of 2001. This prime time segment accounts for approximately two-thirds of advertising spend.
This success was repeated in Norway and Demark. TV3 Norway achieved a year-on-year increase in commercial share of viewing in November, while TV3 Denmark has further extended its position and achieved the channel's second highest ever commercial share of viewing on Monday of last week.
The 'Fame Factory' format continued its success in Sweden, comprehensively winning the ratings war with rival format 'Popstars,' as the two shows have been scheduled head to head four days a week for the last 6 weeks. The 'Fame Factory' final on Saturday attracted 745,000 viewers and achieved a 45.1% share of viewing amongst the target group of 15-44 year old women in the satellite universe. 'Fame Factory' also attracted a higher prime time audience of 290,000 viewers on Thursday evening, during the final of 'Popstars'. 'Fame Factory' was produced by MTG company, STRIX Television.
TV3 Sweden's Sunday movie attracted 1.1 million viewers, the highest number of viewers ever for a movie on TV3. The Swedish film was distributed by MTG company, SONET Film. This follows the previous week's James Bond movie -- 'The World is not enough,'-- which was the fifth most successful Sunday film ever, with 720,000 viewers and a total share of viewing of 33.7% in the satellite universe.
The 'Anna Nicole Show' was launched in Sweden, Norway and Denmark last week. The show achieved a peak viewing figure on its first night of 546,000 viewers in Sweden, with an average of 490,000 viewers. The show achieved the same good start in Norway and Denmark with a share of viewing of 26% and 30% respectively.
TV3 Sweden's share of viewing amongst the target 15-44 year old age group in the satellite universe reached 20.3% last week, which has only been beaten since August 2001 by the viewing numbers for the Ice Hockey World Championships on TV3 during the Spring.
The recently published November share of viewing figures in Norway show that TV3's commercial share of viewing amongst 15-49 year olds in the TV3 universe is up year on year from 12.5% to 14.6%.
TV3 Denmark achieved its second highest commercial share of viewing ever last week with 43.2% of viewers watching 'Robinson' (the 'Survivor' Reality TV format) on Monday. The show attracted 1,077,000 viewers, which represented a 71% share of viewing amongst 15-50 year old adults in the TV3 universe.
Hans-Holger Albrecht, President and CEO of MTG, commented: "These ratings clearly show the success of the 'Fall' programming schedule. We have gathered momentum in the Scandinavian territories and are winning the ratings battles in the important prime time viewing slots, as well as continuing to grow our share of viewing amongst the key demographic groups."
For further information, please visit www.mtg.se, email info@mtg.se
Modern Times Group is a leading vertically integrated media group withbroadcasting, production, publishing and media services businesses,operating in more than 30 countries around the world. MTG is the largestFree-TV operator in the Nordic & Baltic region, the 3rd largest DTH Pay-TV operator in Europe, and has Free-TV operations in Russia and Hungary.MTG is the largest commercial radio broadcaster in Northern Europe, theglobal market leader in DVD subtitling and dubbing, and a leadinginternational Reality-TV production house.
MTG's 'A' and 'B' shares are traded on the Stockholmsborsen 'O-list' andits ADRs are listed on Nasdaq.
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