The list is also preparing a paid version of the popular Mapy.cz service

For a long time it was customary that practically all services from Seznam were free. The Czech internet number one built on its massive user base, which it subsequently displayed advertising. But that revenue model is starting to show cracks as regulators increasingly push to limit the tracking of users and the collection of their data. The success of internet advertising is based on this. Seznam is thus trying to find new ways of monetizing its services, and one of the innovations it is working on is the introduction of a paid version of the Mapy.cz service.

“The list provided its services for free for many years, including the Mapy.cz application. He could afford it primarily because the billion-dollar investment in their development and innovation was financed by advertising, mostly targeted advertising. However, with regard to the changing digital market and user behavior, the aforementioned model is unsustainable. That is why Seznam, like other entities on the domestic and foreign markets, is trying to find suitable solutions. Offering advanced features for a fee may be one of them. However, the basic version of our Maps will be free.” https://twitter.com/mapy_cz/status/1788600636646285458 originally in a now deleted post on the X network.

It was one of the reactions to a series of posts by Ondřej Procházka, a member of the Seznam.cz board of directors, who https://twitter.com/ondrej1974/status/1788545875179925767, that he and his colleagues are intensively working on the Mapy.cz Premium service. This should be focused on more advanced functions, while active users who regularly add photos or reviews should be favored when they are launched. When asked by CzechCrunch, Seznam did not want to reveal more details about the premium version of his popular map service yet, saying that everything is in the preparation and development phase.

This is another Seznam initiative to find an alternative source of income after, among other things, the end of so-called third-party cookies. Thanks to them, companies track which websites users visit in order to serve them appropriate advertising. However, the authorities have long been pushing for the tracking of users through the collection of this data to be limited and to be as transparent as possible. For example, third-party cookies will soon end even in the most used Chrome browser, which is one of the last to support them.

In recent weeks, Seznam therefore introduced a subscription to a number of its services for users who no longer want to share their data with it. If the user allows data processing when visiting the home page of Seznam.cz and others, he can continue to use the services, including the search engine, for free, while seeing targeted advertising. However, if he does not want to share, for example, location data or visited pages, he will have to pay 79 crowns a month. And they will still see the ad, albeit untargeted.

This move by the number one domestic Internet player caused quite a stir among users, until the founder and owner of Seznam, Ivo Lukačovič, finally decided to explain everything in as much detail as possible through a post on the social network X. “A user who consumes untargeted advertising on Seznam is profitable for us,” Lukačovič stated, among other things, to explain why users who no longer want to share their data with Seznam must start paying.

The list with the option without targeted advertising, i.e. with a fee of 79 crowns per month, was also originally deployed on the Mapy.cz service. But that no longer applies. “After evaluating operational experience, user feedback, and based on further development plans, we have decided to enable the continued use of the Mapy.cz service for everyone, even without payment and without consent to the use of personal data for targeted advertising.” confirmed on the X network Ondřej Procházka, who as a member of the board together with Pavel Zima, Tomáš Kapalín, Ondřej Krišica and Matěj Hušek is one of the heads of Seznam.

This step was also confirmed for CzechCrunch by Seznam’s press spokesperson Aneta Kapuciánová: “The list without targeted advertising was originally deployed on the Mapy.cz service as well. However, with regard to the future development of the premium version, we finally decided to remove this dialog box and leave Mapy.cz in the mode that users were used to until now. The list without targeted advertising, as we call the paywall, is currently not on Mapy.cz and further on these services (after arriving via a direct link): kalendar.seznam.cz, ucet.seznam.cz, kupi.cz, navaida.seznam.cz, login.szn.cz.”