The New Year’s speech by President Petr Pavel was the most-watched in the last seven years, attracting an average of 1.04 million viewers above the age of fifteen on channels CT1 and CT24. The speech reached 34.52% of all viewers on their screens, making it the most-watched speech by a head of state in the past seven years. Czech Television reported this on Tuesday, which also noted that the total viewership across all major TV stations exceeded 1.66 million people.
The speech was most viewed on the CT1 program, attracting 795,000 viewers, while CT24 had 240,000 viewers. The speech was also broadcast on channels such as Nova (444,000 viewers), Prima (139,000 viewers from 2 pm), and CNN Prima News (186,000 viewers).
Overall, from 1 pm, the speech was watched by 1.665 million adult viewers, which is almost 400,000 more than the last Christmas speech by former President Miloš Zeman, according to František Lutonský, Executive Producer of Broadcasting and Digital Products at CT24.
During his television appearance on Monday afternoon, President Petr Pavel appreciated that the governing coalition parties agreed but criticized their lack of ability to explain their steps. He also declared that it was time to begin preparations for adopting the euro.
He also pointed out that the Czech Republic is finally meeting the commitment of the North Atlantic Alliance to spend two percent of GDP on defense.