🎬 A Competition of Concepts and the Fight Against Piracy
At the 12th St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, leaders from top television holdings and major online streaming platforms (Start, Kinopoisk, Wink, Okko, Channel One, Russia-1, and Lenfilm) gathered for a key media industry session titled "Theatrical Distribution, Television, and Digital Platforms: Cooperation or Hostility?" The discussion was moderated by Eduard Iloyan, General Producer of Yellow, Black and White.
The central takeaway: the era of confrontation between traditional television and streaming services is over. Russia’s total media market has reached 500 billion rubles, with television accounting for up to 300 billion, streaming services taking around 180 billion, and theatrical distribution generating 65 to 70 billion. However, the industry now faces new challenges, including soaring production costs, the search for fresh monetization models, and aggressive underground theatrical distribution.
The Search for “New Money”
The cost of producing high-quality series and feature films has skyrocketed. Konstantin Ernst, CEO of Channel One, noted that per-episode production costs have jumped fivefold since the rise of streaming platforms. Consequently, the subscription-based model alone can no longer offset these massive production and marketing budgets.
To bridge the gap, platforms are exploring alternative ways to monetize paying audiences:
- The EST Model (Electronic Sell-Through): Nikolay Buts, CEO of Kinopoisk, urged the industry to develop transactional models where viewers purchase digital access to a film before its general subscription release. A trial run with Guy Ritchie’s Dirty Money generated tens of millions of rubles for the platform without cannibalizing subsequent subscription viewership.
- Early Access to Series: Selling full-season access upfront—a strategy Kinopoisk applied to Major (Silver Spoon) and Unprincipled—also proved financially effective, generating tens of millions in additional revenue.
- Price Increases and Tiered Plans: Executives from Wink and Start highlighted that current subscription rates—averaging 400 to 500 rubles—remain well below global standards. The market is expected to shift toward 600+ rubles through flexible tiering and premium release windows.
A Competition of Concepts Over Budget Inflation
Top managers agreed that high-quality content remains the market’s primary growth driver. Gavriil Gordeev, General Producer at Okko, emphasized that a pay culture is built through a competition of concepts rather than pricing gimmicks: audiences are willing to pay when a film delivers genuine value and emotional resonance.
Television executives Sergey Titinkov (Channel One) and Yasmina Ben Ammar (Russia-1) added that traditional broadcast TV remains the ultimate multiplier for large-scale projects. No billion-ruble blockbuster succeeds without synergy with television, which continues to provide unmatched reach and marketing power.
Underground Distribution Threatens the Legitimate Market
The issue of unauthorized theatrical screenings and digital piracy sparked intense debate. Okko head Gavriil Gordeev and producer Eduard Iloyan pointed out that illicit screenings of foreign titles in cinemas, alongside online content leaks, put legitimate producers at a severe disadvantage.
When a pirated Hollywood blockbuster receives 11 showtimes a day while a state-supported domestic film gets only one, the market devolves into a “Wild West.” Panelists agreed that protecting domestic content will require strict, transparent rules established jointly by the industry and the state.
Source: Kinometro
