Ivo Lukačovič launched an internet catalogue called Seznam.cz with start-up capital of 50,000 CZK. The catalogue was divided into individual categories which included up to 1000 websites and enabled users to search using key words. It offered a ranking of the best Czech sites and a summary of the news on the Czech internet. In 1996, we also developed the first banner advertisement at Seznam and our homepage recorded up to 10,000 hits a day.

We quickly gained a solid position and so 1997 saw us push on from our successful start. The traffic on the homepage rose to 50,000 hits per day in just one year. We celebrated our first birthday by introducing a full-text search known as “Kompas”, which enabled the entry of queries using Czech diacritics and indexed 1.2 million sites. We also launched new services in addition to the browser. For example, Lidé.cz, the Seznam DNES news server or the iShop electronic shop. A Slovak sibling called Zoznam.sk was also created.

Seznam launched its free in-house email service, simply called Email. Visitor numbers continued to grow and were in the area of 80,000 hits per day. The biggest break occurred on September 30, 1998, when the limit of 100,000 hits a day was exceeded for the first time, which made Seznam.cz the most visited Czech website. Novinky.cz, which was originally conceived as an entertainment server where people could post their own contributions, also took its first steps. Over the course of the coming years, it morphed into the news outlet which we now know.

The traffic numbers at Seznam.cz continued to grow in 1999. Hits increased by an incredible 321%. Email from Seznam.cz gained approximately 300,000 clients during its first year of operation. This number also brought us one hundred percent growth in our advertising profits. Our income also reached 12 million crowns.

2000 was an important milestone in the history of our company. Seznam.cz was transformed into a joint stock company and a 30% share was acquired by the Swedish company Spray Ventures. We managed to acquire a 53% market share, to double our turnover and to increase our products to 2.23 million CZK. In addition to Mapy, Email, Počasí and the TV programme, the homepage also included a translation dictionary and a link for job searches. Blind people also appreciated our sites and we received a Blindfriendly certificate for them.

Awards:

• The “Blindfriendly” Certificate – An award for Seznam.cz and Novinky.cz in recognition of the fact that they have been adapted to the needs of blind and sight-impaired users.
• The Český Zavináč 2000 Award – Seznam.cz was chosen as the best web portal and Novinky.cz as the best entertainment server.

The Seznam Firmy service was the biggest new feature in 2001. When launched, it contained 55 thousand records with contact information for companies, including their financial results, current share value and general meeting summaries. Companies were also able to pay for being displayed in the database according to keywords for the very first time. Two new functions also appeared on the homepage – Reality, which provided information about the current offers from real estate agencies, and Seznam SMS brána, which enabled users to send SMS messages free of charge.

Awards:

• The most successful advertising campaign for McDonald’s in Central Europe – realised in association with Seznam under the name “Ham!” (Yum!).
• The most popular computer product – an award in the website category for www.seznam.cz.

At the beginning of the year, a record 1.44 million people visited the Seznam.cz page and the number of registered e-mail addresses exceeded one million. We presented the brand new Auto.seznam.cz service, now known as Sauto.cz. The Lidé.cz website became a clearly arranged community website which enabled users to chat and plan where to meet. We also tried using Google services for full-text searches for a short time and we became a member of the Association for Internet Advertising (SPIR). Its goal was to try to help the advertising market when acquiring interesting socio-demographic data.

In 2003, we acquired our dog mascot. His name was Krasty and he belonged to Dita Majorová, a Seznam employee from Brno. The Novinky.cz website became a news server and Borgisbecame its co-publisher. We soon enjoyed significant hits not only at Novinky, but also at the Seznam.cz homepage, which was visited by 2,265,566 people per month. In addition, our team grew to 146 employees.

We purchased the Email.cz service and fully integrated it into our Seznam.cz Email service along with the @email.cz domain. At the end of the year, we approached three million hits a month and we doubled our revenues to more than 500 million Czech crowns.

We officially launched the search engine in March. A four-member team contributed to its development and launch. The search engine used a database of 30 million documents (nowadays, there are 22 times more) within the framework of Czech websites. We also managed to successfully launch a new version of Seznam.cz Email with a capacity of 2 GB and the option of choosing your own mailbox skin. We took the Spolužáci.cz social network under our wing and gave it a complete makeover. The monthly traffic on the homepage exceeded the three million mark.

Awards:

• Entrepreneur of the Year – the Chairman of the Seznam Board of Directors, Ivo Lukačovič, was a finalist in this competition.
• The Image Award – Seznam received second place in the web portal category from the Rhodos Association of Advertising Agencies.

Ivo Lukačovič decided to hand over the management of Seznam.cz to Pavel Zima, who remained at the head of the company until 2016. Daily traffic exceeded two million hits for the first time. The post.cz domain was added to the two email services. We also launched our own system for PPC advertising, Sklik.cz. Mapy.cz underwent revolutionary changes, which meant that it became fully interactive and was further enhanced with aerial photographs of the Czech Republic. These new features brought in profits in excess of a billion crowns and, the same as every year, the number of hits also rose, to 3.8 million per month.

Awards:

• Fair Play Company – Seznam became the winner of the first title awarded by the Ethical Forum of the Czech Republic.
• The Křišťálová lupa 2006 Award – Ivo Lukačovič was declared the personality of the Czech internet. Email on Seznam won the award for the best email service and Super.cz won the one for the most read news service in the Entertainment Tabloid category.

The most fundamental event involved our entry into the Global Inspiration company, the owner of Stream.cz. This step was immediately reflected in the traffic on this video portal, which increased five-fold to more than one million followers. We were also successful with the newly-launched Zboží.cz, which become number one amongst price comparison websites. The search engine became unequivocally the most used search engine on the Czech internet after two years. This position was further reinforced after the merger with the Atlas.cz portal. Email became the first available service on the mobile internet.

Awards:

• The Company Image Award – Seznam replaced the previous year’s holder of first place, Google, and received the award from the Rhodos Advertising Agency Association.
• The Czech Top 100 – Seznam won in the Information Technology and Internet category and was once again ranked among the one hundred most successful Czech companies.

In 2008, we mainly focused on women, for whom the Proženy.cz portal was created. We made our homepage and our services accessible to the blind. Among the first such examples were Lidé.cz and Novinky.cz. Seznam also went mobile on the three domestic operators. We reinforced our team with a new branch in Brno, which raised our total number of employees to 642. In addition to the numbers of Seznam employees, we also expanded the capacity of our email mailboxes to an unlimited amount.

Awards:

• Trusted Brand – Seznam.cz ranked as the most trusted Czech IT company in the Reader’s Digest reader survey for the sixth time.
• The Křišťálová lupa 2008 Award – The survey organised by the Internet Info company awarded Seznam Email first place in the email category and gave third place to the Stream.cz video server in the Entertainment category.

We set out our new vision and strategy, which stated that “we are working to make the internet the strongest medium and to ensure that Seznam.cz is the place of first choice”. We began to focus on the media much more. We decided to change the browser for the “In the World” section and we transferred to Bing by Microsoft. We became involved in public awareness as part of our strategy and launched Part One of the film “Seznam se bezpečně”, which points out the risks of meeting people online.

Awards:

• The Czech TOP 100 – Seznam was ranked in the one hundred most successful Czech companies.
• The “Křišťálová lupa 2009” Award – The votes of the users of the Czech internet brought Seznam two first prizes. Our first win for searches and our fourth first prize for Email.

Our homepage exceeded five million visits a month. One of the reasons for this was the launch of a cycle trip planner on Mapy.cz. We launched the Sdovolená.cz server for travel lovers and Smoto.cz for motorists. We were the patron of the “Pomoc n@ webu” (Help on the web) category in the Children’s Achievement of the Year Foundation.

Awards:

• Czech Open Source 2010 – Seznam.cz was elected Company of the Year in a survey organised by the Czech news server Root.cz.
• The “Křišťálová lupa 2010” Award – The votes of the users of the Czech internet brought Seznam the first prize for Email for the fifth time.

We changed our main claim to “Najdu tam, co hledám” (I can find what I am looking for there). We began to compete with discount portals with the Seznam Tip function, while it also became possible to look for the cheapest air tickets on the Sletenky.cz portal. Mapy.cz received a mobile application and what is termed the bird’s eye view also appeared for the first time. We enjoyed Stream.cz so much that we bought the second 50% ownership share in it. The redesign of Super.cz met with a positive response. The Borgis publishing house, which is in charge of Novinky.cz and Sport.cz, was newly put in charge of content. Seznam employees received a special benefit in 2011 – a company kindergarten.

Awards:

• EFFIE – We came in second place for our Hunting Season campaign in the Miscellaneous Services category of the EFFIE competition for the most effective Czech advertising campaign.
• The European Business Awards – Seznam.cz won a place among the ten representatives representing Czech business in the international competition.

Pavel Zima became the managing director. He nominated Michal Feix to the position of the executive director. We presented the Mixér.cz service and the new version of Email during the course of the year. Počasí.cz and Sbazar.cz underwent a redesign. Seznam.cz Vyhledávání underwent fundamental improvements which enabled the indexing of foreign-language sites. The number of documents which can be searched for on Seznam.cz increased from 400 million to 700 million. Our educational project released Part Two of the “Seznam se bezpečně” film.

Awards:

• Trusted Brand – Seznam.cz received an award as the most trusted Czech IT company in the Reader’s Digest reader survey for the tenth time.
• Big Brother Awards – Seznam.cz received a positive award in this competition for the way it protects its users’ personal data.

In 2013, we decided to build our own data centre. Our “Seznam se bezpečně” project received the “Zlatý záchranářský kříž” Award and the internal communication at Seznam.cz was victorious in the European FEIEA awards. Stream.cz was transformed into an internet television provider and launched the new Pohádky channel. Significant improvements were made to Mapy.cz. Cross-country skiing trails appeared on the site for the first time. A new mobile version, which enabled the user to work offline, was also presented. Another application, for example, was a fast mobile browser. A tool for collecting feedback from Seznam.cz Výzkumník, which helps to improve the internet, was also created.

Awards:

• The FEIEA 2013 Grand Prix – The Seznam.cz internal communication project received the gold medal for the “Moustache Month Communication” (Komunikace kníratého měsíce) campaign.
• The “Zlatý záchranářský kříž” Award – for exceptional creative achievement in the area of public awareness and education.

In 2014, we launched new applications for Email, TV Program, Sauto.cz, Proženy.cz and Stream.cz. All of our services underwent fundamental changes involving the simplification of their use. We laid the foundation stone for the Kokura Data Centre, which took a year to complete and provided us with data independence. The now legendary lobbyist Tonda Blaník first appeared on the Stream.cz internet television channel. The importance of video advertising, which constitutes 80% of the income of Stream.cz television, also rose thanks to the huge ratings for this series.

Awards:

• Marketer of the Year – Seznam.cz Výzkumník received a small dolphin at the Czech Marketing Company Awards for its innovative project in the area of marketing.
• Mobile Application of 2014 – Mapy.cz was the absolute winner of the Mobile Application of the Year Survey. The TVProgram.cz application also received an award when it finished second in the Lifestyle Category.

Mapy.cz went out into the world, so you can now use it to plan a trip to any continent. Journeys through the Czech basin were made easier by the new trip planner. The greatest change involved the redesign of the Seznam homepage, which continues to be one of the most visited sites on the Czech internet. After our great success with the mobile browser, which is used by more than 200 thousand people every day, we also launched a new PC version. Stream.cz launched the brand new Pizza boy and Autobazar Monte Karlo series. However, our shows were not permitted to take part in the TýTý television awards, which led to a huge debate about what is and is not television. In the end, we did at least receive an award for our project entitled “The Sun does not shine for one TýTý” (Pro jedno TýTý slunce nesvítí).

Awards:

• The Czech Award for PR – Stream.cz and the “Sun does not shine for one TýTý” project won the Company Communication category and the Scoop category and at the same time it also became the absolute winner of the Czech Award for PR, which is awarded by the Association of PR Agencies every year.
• The Czech Lion – The third season of the “Kancelář Blaník” series won a statuette from the 23rd annual Czech Lion Awards. It won the award in the Special Audiovisual Achievement category.

We bought back a 30% share in the company from foreign investors at the beginning of 2016. Ivo Lukačovič once again became the sole owner with a 100% share. The management was taken over by a five-member Board of Directors with Michal Feix as its executive director. We appeared on television screens thanks to the HbbTV application and we also took over the editorship of Proženy.cz. Seznam Zprávy and sections offering a tailor-made summary of the most interesting items from the Czech internet were added to the home page. Martin Kožíšek published the book Be Safe on the Internet (“Bezpečně na internetu”) under the auspices of the “Seznam se bezpečně” project.

Awards:

• The “Křišťálová lupa” Award – Mapy.cz received first place in the Tools and Services category in 2016.
• WebTop100 – The Kazma campaign was named the Digital Advertising Campaign of 2016.

In 2017, we celebrated 25 years of the Czech internet with the “Connect” conference and we began further strengthening our profile as a media house. For example, we expanded our team to include an Editorial Board and we offered mobile applications which enable our readers to add video commentaries to our articles. The most significant new feature involved the introduction of offline maps of the world with a trip planning feature, including an international version of Mapy.cz called Windy Maps. The eight million active mailboxes in our Email service were given a facelift. New advertising formats appeared on Zboží.cz and an e-shop rating system was added.

Award:

• The “Křišťálová lupa” Award – Windy Maps and Mapy.cz, with its map of the entire world, took the first two places in the Global Projects by Czech Creators category.

We have launched the nationwide tv channel called Televize Seznam, which broadcasts news programmes, interviews and shows produced by Stream. In June, we bought a majority stake in the regional radio stations Expres FM and Classic Praha. The car and motorcycle news site Garáž.cz also became part of Seznam’s content network. For all entrepreneurs, we’ve launched the new Email Profi service, which lets them use email addresses in their own domain; signing in to your Seznam account now also uses two-factor authentication. In late May, we said farewell to the Spolužáci.cz service.

Awards:

• Křišťálová Lupa Awards – We won first place in the categories Online Video (Šťastné pondělí/Happy Monday), Tools and Services (Mapy.cz) and Person of the Year (Jindřich Šídlo).
• Top Employer – We won the eighth year of the awards in the Information Technology category.
• Randstad Award – Seznam.cz became the third most attractive employer in the Czech Republic.

In the beginning of 2019, we acquired 100% ownership interest in regional radios Expres FM and Classic Praha and launched our own videoportal www.televizeseznam.cz which offers both content of Seznam’s editorial offices and third parties production. We concluded an exclusive cooperation with the company Samsung and thanks to it have been able to introduce the mobile telephone Samsung Galaxy A40 in the limited edition Seznam on the market. We added the model Galaxy A20e before the Christmas. Mapy.cz (Maps) started cooperation with Booking.com and users of Apple’s smart telephones may start travelling with them by car thanks to the CarPlay support. Several our services experienced a new design, for example, Počasí.cz (Weather), Seznam Zprávy (Seznam News) or a browser. We added the function Kalendář (Diary) to the Email in the end of the year.

Awards:

• Křišťálová Lupa (Crystal Magnifier) – Mapy.cz (Maps) won in the category Nástroje a služby (Tools and Services) again, the show Honest Guide dominated the category Online video.
• Randstad Award – Seznam.cz became the 3rd most attractive employer in the Czech Republic.
• Top Employer – Seznam.cz defended the first position in the category Information Technologies and was awarded the prize for the best Instagram in the HR marketing segment.
• Recruitment Academy Awards – In the category Kariérní stránky roku – velké firmy (Career Websites of the Year – Large Corporations), we ranked among the top 5 best career webs which were evaluated by the jury mainly from the quality point of view.

The coronavirus pandemic affected the course of 2020 for us as well. At the end of March 2020, we enabled you to share your location in the map (Mapy.cz) application to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission. We reached out to our clients through our programme “We won’t let you down” (Nenecháme vás v tom); we have channelled more than one hundred million Czech crowns through the programme to support their advertising campaigns. In the Mapy.cz application, we have launched traffic navigation, and the users can choose alternative routes. Also, you can turn on a dark theme in the Seznam.cz application. Our Seznam Zprávy started benefiting from using the spoken word. We have created several podcasts, which quickly captured the audience’s attention. Our homepage and content services have also thrived, scoring a record-high number of sessions. Seznam TV has changed its focus and became a general-interest television station with an ever-increasing audience rating. Radio Expres FM has launched a new morning show called Morning Club (Ranní klub) with Miloš Pokorný as the anchorman. Finally, we have launched a new discussion model within our out content services and shut down the Lidé.cz service by the end of the year.

Awards:

• Křišťálová Lupa – The Mapy.cz application won the Tools and Services category and Seznam Zprávy in the News and Journalism category.
• IMC Czech Awards – Our Seznam Brand Studio won the silver award in the Low-Budget Campaigns category of the IMC Czech Awards competition.
• TOP Employer – We ranked first in the Information Technology category of the TOP Employer 2020 survey.
• Native Advertising Awards – Amidst international competition, the Seznam Brand Studio won a gold award in the Best Use of Native Advertising on a Small Budget category, a silver medal in the Best Use of Text and Studio of the Year categories, and Ondřej Sitta scored in the Native Advertising Marketer of the Year category.

In 2021, we made several organizational changes in the structure of Seznam reflecting, for example, the significant growth of the e-commerce sector. We visibly transformed the programming scheme of Televize Seznam, its monthly share exceeded one percent in December 2021. Seznam Zprávy strengthened its position in audio production and we started operating the new podcast platform Podcasty.cz. We launched the Seznam Premium service and a new website designed primarily for developers detailing the technical solutions that we use at Seznam. Panoramic photos for Mapy.cz were newly taken by the Dutch company Cyclomedia and Seznam Prohlížeč improved its translator. Since last year, Sauto.cz service, the online sports magazine Sport.cz and the video portal Stream which was also rebranded from its original name Televizeseznam.cz, enjoy a new design. Seznam has been long time preparing for ending support of third-party cookies in ad targeting and is working on its own solution which it plans to offer to the entire domestic market. At the end of the year, the company began a gradual migration to its own email domain which is enabled by the Email Profi solution.

Awards:

• Křišťálová Lupa – The first place went to Mapy.cz in the Tools and Services category and to Seznam Zprávy in the News and Journalism category.
• Zlatý středník – The project Let’s Stop the Spread of Coronavirus Together with the Mapy.cz Application ranked first in the Mobile Applications and Innovations category.
• Fénix Content Marketing – The project Let’s Stop the Spread of Coronavirus Together with the Mapy.cz Application was awarded the first place in the Best Heroes in Crisis category.
• Randstad Award – Seznam.cz became the 3rd most attractive employer in the Czech Republic.
• Super Brands – Based on consumer research, Seznam.cz was awarded the title Czech Superbrands Award for 2021.
• TOP Employer – In the Information Technology category, Seznam.cz ranked first.

After the start of war in Ukraine, we allocated CZK 100 million to support activities related to the integration of war refugees into the Czech society. In April, we opened our first foreign branch, namely in Bratislava. In July, we expanded our board of directors from three to five members – Matěj Hušek and Ondřej Krišica, who had been working at Seznam on the position of directors, joined the company’s top management. Our users now have the option to authenticate their Seznam Account using their bank identity. Seznam Zprávy continued to develop its audio production and launched the podcast 5:59, which is prepared by Lenka Kabrhelová’s team. Tomáš Břínek alias TMBK, respected author of illustrated jokes, enriched Seznam with his unique visual commentaries glossing current events. At the end of the year, we launched the service Seznam Médium, a platform for publishing author’s articles and commentaries.

Awards:

• Křišťálová Lupa – 1st place went to Seznam Zprávy in the category News and Journalism and to Mapy.cz in the category Tools and Services.
• Trusted Brands – Mapy.cz ranked first in the category Online Maps.
• Podcast roku – Ve Vatě was the 2022 podcast of the year in the category Business. Native
• Advertising Awards – Six awards went to Seznam Brand Studio. Namely, three gold, two silver and one bronze awards.
• IMC European Awards – 2nd place went to Seznam Brand Studio in the Low Budget Campaign category.
• Recruitment Academy Awards – 3rd place in the category Career Video of a Large Company.
• TOP Employer – Seznam.cz took 1st place In the category Information Technology.

We started the new year by launching a new charity project called Seznam Grant. In March, we opened our second own data centre called Nagoja, situated in Benátky nad Jizerou. We improved the appearance of the mobile view of the service Zboží, Kalendář offered to work in dark mode and Email Profi learned to create embedded files, which will make the work with mail sorting easier. In the spring, Expres FM radio expanded to western Bohemia, where listeners can tune it in the analogue broadcasting. Since June, radio listeners can hear Hacsiko – a synthetic voice of the presenter Bára Hacsi created with the help of artificial intelligence. In July, our Seznam dog was given a new digital look and in the autumn we launched the possibility to view local news on our homepage. Lifestyle magazine Super.cz experienced a redesign and we expanded our account security options at the end of the year.

Awards:

• Křišťálová Lupa – 1st places went to Mapy.cz, Seznam Zprávy and Seznam Médium in their respective categories.
• Fénix Content Marketing – Seznam Brand Studio was awarded four first place awards in the professional marketing competition.
• Podcast of the Year – Ve vatě and Vlevo dole were the podcasts of the year.
• Native Advertising Awards – Seznam Brand Studio collected 14 awards at the prestigious international native advertising competition.