The two talks, which were hosted by the Serial Killer festival, painted a picture of an industry increasingly defined by constant reinvention and adaptability

Bianka Bunde (ZDF/ZDFneo) during her presentation

Day three of Brno’s Serial Killer TV Days (24-26 September) placed a strong emphasis on innovation in streaming and distribution. Two case studies presented on 26 September illustrated how bold decisions and a deep understanding of audience behaviour can reshape both the Czech and German audiovisual landscapes.

The morning began with “Oneplay: The Story of a Rebrand that Changed the Rules of Czech Streaming”, delivered by Andrej Slaninka, senior digital brand manager at TV Nova. His session traced the origins and outcomes of Oneplay, a service born of the merger of two established brands – Voyo, a leading streaming platform, and O2 TV, a major digital television service.

Slaninka explained that the project began with a deceptively simple exercise: asking viewers what the main obstacles were for them when it came to enjoying televisual entertainment. The answers were telling. Audiences cited an overload of options, confusing navigation, poor recommendations, technical issues and excessive advertising. “People just want great stories, ideally all in one place,” Slaninka said, stressing that the company’s first step was to listen carefully to its users.

Instead of maintaining two strong but separate brands, TV Nova opted to take a risk. Rather than choosing one or the other, the team created a new entity that combined the strengths of both. “Why kill two strong brands? Creativity, courage, passion and respect – this was our guiding principle,” he said. The decision resulted in the creation of Oneplay, a new platform positioned as a category-defining service: one place where audiences could find the most relevant local entertainment.

The rebranding was presented not just as a merger, but as a revolution in approach. Oneplay’s catalogue was designed to prioritise Czech content while offering a mix of premium docuseries, blockbusters, sports and original series. A promotional campaign symbolised the platform as a ride in a lift, inhabited by the most iconic TV characters and personalities, with each floor representing a different world of entertainment. For Slaninka, the metaphor captured the essence of the user journey: focus on the ride itself, not the hallways.

The gamble paid off. Brand tracking results showed that only one month and a half after migration, Oneplay had achieved unprecedented recognition in the Czech market. “We didn’t kill the two brands; we just gave them a new shape,” Slaninka summed up, urging industry peers not to be afraid of asking questions directly to their audience.

If Oneplay’s lesson was about listening and daring to reimagine the market, the following session turned its attention to the challenges of maintaining visibility in a saturated media environment. Later, Bianka Bunde, distribution and social media manager at ZDF and ZDFneo, delivered the talk “Boosting Visibility for Our Programmes – Key Learnings from ZDFneo’s Distribution Strategies”.

Bunde opened by pointing out that in today’s crowded landscape, the quality of a series is no longer sufficient to ensure success. The real challenge lies in reaching the right audience, particularly younger viewers who primarily discover content through social media. “Fictional formats often struggle not because of what they are, but because they fail to reach the intended audience,” she remarked.

She identified five core principles driving ZDFneo’s approach. The first was to make smart use of existing material. Short, dialogue-driven and emotionally engaging clips could serve as powerful entry points on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, while slow, dark or restricted content (violence, nudity, drugs and so on) typically underperformed. Successful examples included promotional snippets from Tschappel and Riding Darkness, which managed to reach high view counts across social channels.

The second principle involved embedding distribution planning into the production process from the very beginning. According to Bunde, distribution strategies should not be an afterthought, but a collaborative effort between editorial, production and paid promotion teams. Campaigns for projects such as A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (via BookTok collaborations) and Love Sucks (through the creation of the show’s characters’ Tinder profiles) exemplified how format-specific strategies could engage audiences in unexpected ways.

Her third point concerned supplementary content. Behind-the-scenes footage or exclusive extras, she cautioned, only add value under certain conditions: when the cast has a strong social-media presence or when the material offers genuine added appeal. Otherwise, the resources required rarely justify the outcome.

Language and wording formed the fourth pillar. From the phrasing of synopses to the hashtags used in posts, the way content is framed can significantly affect its discoverability. Audience comments, she argued, are invaluable in signalling what resonates or what fails to connect.

Finally, Bunde stressed the importance of flexibility. Distribution is inherently dynamic, subject to changes in platform algorithms, audience interests and cast relevance. “Make plans early on, and be ready to change them,” she advised, underlining the need for agility in both messaging and tactics.

Her conclusion was that success in digital distribution does not happen by chance. It requires early identification of content with standalone value, synchronised efforts across all teams and an audience-first perspective. Above all, it calls for readiness to adjust strategies as circumstances evolve.

In different ways, both Slaninka and Bunde highlighted the necessity of putting the viewer at the centre of every decision – whether by asking direct questions about their frustrations with streaming or by anticipating how a TikTok clip might capture their attention. For the professionals gathered in Brno, the message was loud and clear: in today’s audiovisual ecosystem, listening to and learning from audiences is not just an advantage, but a survival strategy.