♻️ Partner Ecosystems Emerge as Primary Drivers of the Russian OTT Market
The Russian streaming market has shifted away from aggressive battles for exclusive user retention toward building complex partner models.
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📜 Media Market Demands Revisions to AI Draft Bill
Russia’s largest media market associations—the Russian Book Union, the National Federation of the Music Industry (NFMI), and the Animated Film Association—have issued a second appeal to the country’s top leadership, demanding comprehensive revisions to a draft bill regulating artificial intelligence.
🥳 Soyuzmultfilm Celebrates 90th Anniversary in the Era of AI, Digital Transformation, and New Markets
The studio has reached its 90th anniversary as a diversified media holding that is successfully adapting to the challenges of the digital age.
🚨 Suspense TV Channel Relaunches as 9-1-1
Plan B Cinema has announced the relaunch of its thematic television channel, Suspense. As part of a scheduled update and modernization of its media asset portfolio, the broadcaster is undergoing a full rebranding: the channel is changing its name to 9-1-1 and completely refreshing its visual identity.
☠️ Gray-Market Distribution Maintains 11% Share of Russian Box Office
The Russian theatrical market concluded the first half of 2026 with a cumulative box office turnover of 35.2 billion rubles. According to industry statistics, the lion’s share of revenue was driven by official releases, which accounted for 31.1 billion rubles.
🏴☠️ ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’ Tops Russian Piracy Charts in June
Analytics firm F6 has identified the films and television series with the highest volume of unauthorized copies circulating across the Russian internet (Runet)—specifically via torrent trackers and illicit streaming platforms—in June 2026.
💰 IRI to Support 152 National Media Projects
The Internet Development Institute (ANO “IRI”) has finalized the results of its national content competition, identifying the winning projects slated to receive state financial support in the coming years.
🍿 Russian Box Office Revenues Surge in First Half of 2026
According to the first-half 2026 data from the Unified Federal Automated Information System (EAIS) operated by the Cinema Fund, the cumulative box office of Russian movie theaters surged 26.6% year-over-year to reach 35.2 billion rubles (up from 27.8 billion rubles in 2025).
⚖️ Rights Dispute Erupts Over Leopold the Cat Feature Film
A complex legal battle is unfolding around the recently announced live-action/animated feature film Leopold. U.S.-based firm Rubstein Properties has issued a formal pre-litigation cease-and-desist notice to Dmitry Litvinov, owner and CEO of the Welcome Media production company.
👛 Foreign Film Distribution to Face New Levies in Russia
Russia is preparing a regulatory overhaul of its theatrical distribution sector, designed to establish a new funding pipeline for national cinema. The country plans to introduce mandatory financial levies on the distribution and screening of foreign films.