CTC Media, one of Russia’s leading independent media companies, and National Media Group (NMG) have announced an agreement to create a joint online video resource that will use CTC’s the Videomore portal as a foundation. Videomore was launched by CTC Media in December 2010.
According to the reached agreement, the Videomore portal will provide access to a significant amount of REN TV and Channel 5 content, in addition to existing CTC Media content (part of which is a show called ‘Secrets of the World‘, hosted by Anna Chapman, the glamorous former Russian spy who was arrested in New York in June 2010).
Viacheslav Sinadski, CTC Media’s Chief Strategy Officer, said:
“CTC Media has traditionally been ahead of the game when it comes to trends and industry changes, striving to adapt to the evolving market as quickly as possible. We were one of the first in the sector to focus on new media as a strategic segment by creating the Videomore portal. The resource has operated in its original form for almost two years and has met all our expectations in the meantime. These two years have given us invaluable experience and a better understanding of the modern viewer’s demands.
We have come to the conclusion that our future success depends on three factors: the availability of high-quality new content, the ability to advertise on television, as well as the overall scale. The first two criteria have always been at our disposal, but we can significantly expand the scale of our business only by attracting new strategic partners including media holdings, TV channels and copyright holders.”
As VAN reported earlier in the year, Price Waterhouse Coopers have predicted that Russia is set to become EMEA’s largest TV market by 2016. CTC Media is a leading independent media company in Russia, with operations throughout Russia and in a number of other CIS markets. It operates three free-to-air television networks in Russia – CTC, Domashny and Peretz – as well as Channel 31 in Kazakhstan and a TV company in Moldova, with a combined potential audience of over 150 million people.
National Media Group was founded in February 2008 through a merger of the media assets of AB Rossiya, Alexey Mordashov, Surgutneftegaz and the Sogaz insurance group. In June 2011, the large European media holding RTL Group acquired a stake in NMG. National Media Group is currently one of the largest private media holdings in Russia. Its assets include: Petersburg Channel 5 TV and Radio Company (72.4%), Channel One (25%), REN TV media holding (68%), the Izvestiya newspaper (50.19%) and the Russian News Service radio station (100%).
