General Director of Amedia TV Denis Gorshkov: how to get Russians used to paying for TV series. The holdings will unite the management of Internet assets. Do the interests of the American audience and ours closely coincide?

What will replace “Game of Thrones”, why the recent leak of “Sherlock” did not quarrel between Channel One and the BBC, who in RuNet is ready to pay for content and how not to make a mistake when choosing a Western series to be shown in Russia - CEO of Amedia TV and streaming service “ Amediateka" Denis Gorshkov explains to The Village the online rental system.

Short

Amediateka evaluates new serials according to four criteria: history, exclusivity, production quality and memorability.

It is impossible to completely prevent leaks, but they are not always catastrophic: for example, the leak of “Sherlock” did not affect the world ratings of the series

As the market develops, Russian streaming services will begin to produce their own content, like Netflix

The only possible successor to Game of Thrones is Westworld

How to choose a series

- You learn about a new series, and after some time it comes out in Amediatek. Who and how makes the decision that you take the series for broadcast?

I’ve been working on this project for more than four years, and every time another season comes out, I catch myself thinking: damn, this is already the fifth, and I remember when the release of this series was just announced. From the announcement that HBO, Showtime or Netflix are interested in a project and have agreed with the producers, until the pilot or the first season appears, it takes from one and a half to three years, depending on the complexity of the project. The producers worked with Westworld for about five years. This is a colossal amount of work, unlike the production of our series, which are often done in two to three months.

Sometimes we receive a short announcement from the studio with information about the project, creators and team. If we are interested, we add the series to the wishlist and monitor its production. Already at this stage, the chances of the series can greatly increase if, for example, David Lynch is directing it or Anthony Hopkins is starring in it.

The next stage is screenings, when the studio invites us to watch the pilot of the series. In May, a global screening for buyers from all over the world takes place in Los Angeles, where studios show pilots of series planned for next year (they will begin airing in the fall). You come to the cinema at nine in the morning and watch these pilots all day. The buyer’s choice is influenced, firstly, by his professional intuition, based on knowledge of his audience, and secondly, by expectation ratings. Many series begin to be promoted on the Internet one and a half to two years before the premiere; the expectation rating can be monitored on independent resources - the international IMDb, the Russian Kinopoisk or Metacritic, which collects the votes of American critics. We also analyze search queries on the RuNet.

When the series is selected and we have agreed with the studio, the technological cycle of preparation for broadcast begins. We release series simultaneously with the world premiere or with minimal delay, which is most often associated with time differences. We prepare one episode for airing in about two weeks, if not in any particular hurry. First we get the script according to which the Russian translation is made. Then - a low-resolution recording, a small black and white picture, which is marked with our studio logo for security purposes. The editor checks the translation for consistency with this picture. About a week before the broadcast we start dubbing. It happens that we receive an aired copy before the premiere, or (in rare cases) it arrives immediately after release in our country, then we have literally a few hours left to mix the finished Russian sound with the original aired copy (and it may differ from the pre-recording).

- Can you describe the ideal series that you will definitely take?

There is no ideal series, except perhaps Game of Thrones, which everyone, young and old, watches. Usually the series is still aimed at a specific audience. In TV series, story rules first and foremost. If you don’t have a cool story, neither the stars nor the producers will save you - as happened with the same “Vinyl”. We evaluate a series based on four criteria - history, extraordinaryness, quality of content and how it settles in your head, what you are left with in the end.

- Is it common for you to experiment and offer the audience a product that is interesting to your team, but which is not guaranteed to be popular in Russia?

Yes, definitely. There are deceptive stories, there have been many of them already. Due to our relationships with studios, including HBO, we have certain obligations - for example, we release all HBO premieres on the market by default, it is difficult for us to refuse anything. “Expected mistakes” happen to everyone, the latest example is “Vinyl” by the same HBO, an ambitious expensive project where Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese were among the producers, and Scorsese personally directed the first episode. It did not reach the HBO audience and had to be closed after the first season. It ended up making the heads of the big HBO programmers roll.

- Which manufacturers are there the most on the site?

HBO is definitely our anchor partner; it has 30–40 percent of the content on the site. Then, Showtime and Starz. These three US studios compete fiercely in the same Premium Pay TV niche. We are one of the few services in the world that managed to collect all three on one platform. This is one of the reasons why at one time we did not create an HBO franchise in Russia, but created a service under our own brand, which allowed us to work with HBO’s competitors. We collect the cream of the crop from other studios - the same House of Cards, which is broadcast all over the world on Netflix and produced by Sony.

Come to the cinema at nine in the morning and you watch these pilots all day

About the audience of Amediateka

- Do the interests of the American audience and ours closely coincide?

Some series clearly work in all markets; for example, “Game of Thrones” is a product that is understandable in both Vladivostok and Nigeria. And there are quite niche American projects that are of little interest to Russian viewers. There are more and more such series: the American market is trying to produce targeted television projects for a specific audience. TV series for African Americans, sexual minorities, and TV series on social issues relevant to the United States have appeared. It might be cool in America, but when we release them under obligations to the studios, only ardent Americanophiles are interested in them. Comedies are a separate story: humor is also an extremely specific product. There are purely American or purely British comedies, and the mass Russian audience does not watch them.

- The Russian audience and the viewer of Amediateka are probably not exactly the same thing?

In general, it’s not the same thing; our audience is specific. The main core is people 25–45 years old, the most active viewers are from 25 to 35 years old. 60% of users are men, while in the USA it is, on the contrary, women. This is rather a technological advantage: we are not an on-air linear channel, our service is on the Internet, you need to pay by card or download an application, and in families these manipulations are more often performed by men.

About 60% are in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large cities. Compared to the mass Russian TV viewer, our audience is younger and more solvent; these are the rare people who pay for content on the Internet, and you really can’t find such people.

Considering that more than 80% of the content on the service is foreign series, our viewers are to some extent Westernophiles or those who prefer Western content simply because of quality.

At the very beginning we faced an impenetrable wall: « Why should I pay you? if the same thing can be found for free?

About the subscription price, the market for legal streaming and the release of Sherlock

- What is the price of your subscription determined from?

The first and most important thing is the cost of content. We calculate the cost based on the terms agreed upon with the studio. The second is maintenance. We understand that subscription costs have reached a critical level (a subscription to Amediateka costs 599 rubles per month. - Ed.), and we won’t raise it any higher. We are cheaper than Netflix, but more expensive than other paid services. There is another important factor: we buy content from Americans in dollars, but here we sell it for rubles. The dollar exchange rate has doubled, and the cost has increased accordingly.

At the same time, we work quite flexibly with the audience. We have free trials, we provide free access to the first episodes to attract an audience, and sometimes we open up previous seasons. We have social programs - for example, students, by registering and entering their ISIC card number on a special page, can receive a subscription not for 600, but for 300 rubles. We had a special program with VKontakte, when for 100 rubles you could get a weekly subscription and stickers from Game of Thrones. If you subscribe to Amediateka from an operator, be it Rostelecom or Beeline TV, the subscription will cost not 600 rubles, as on the Internet, but 350 - because we understand that Rostelecom’s audience is less solvent, especially in the regions, and it’s harder to bring it to the service. In general, we try to tailor our offer to different audience segments.

Our viewers to a certain degree Westernophiles

- How is the legal streaming market changing in Russia? Will new players appear in the near future?

Last year, Netflix became available in Russia, but no miracle happened - we do not feel an outflow of audiences, but are only growing. Most likely, the fact is that in Russia there is practically no content with Russian voice acting. New domestic services are also appearing - some TV channels have started streaming. At the current stage, when the market is still gaining strength, we are interested in the emergence of new players: the niche is developing, and it becomes easier for us. The next stage will be the consolidation of players - the weak will die out, the survivors will unite. And then the real competition will begin, where the main trump cards will be the convenience of the service and exclusive high-quality content. Most players on the Russian market - Ivi, Megogo, Tvigle - do business on a free model and non-exclusive content. Their catalogs are not much different. Amediateka is perhaps the only service that collects TV series on an exclusive basis. You won't find 70% of our content on either Ivi or Megogo. This allows us to stand aside and develop in our own way. - How is the fight against piracy going? Are people switching from torrents to legal services?

We have been on the market for 3.5 years. Based on the growth of our audience, we see that there is such a trend. It has become easier to attract new audiences. People realized that paid content is more convenient, better quality, and faster. But this required enormous effort; at the very beginning we did a lot of explanatory, educational work, and were faced with an impenetrable wall: “Why should I pay you if the same thing can be found for free?” Of course, the development of “anti-piracy” legislation in Russia helps.

- Recently, an episode of Sherlock appeared on the Internet the day before the official premiere on Channel One...

The Sherlock story is somewhat overblown. Channel One and the BBC issued a joint release stating that they have no complaints against each other. Such things happen even at HBO: in 2015, the first four episodes of Game of Thrones were leaked online, and this is the most profitable series in the world. The BBC itself leaked Sherlock. As experience shows, all this is the influence of the human factor, from which it is difficult to insure yourself. You can have the strictest security measures, but in the end it all depends on some sloppy dude who was bribed or decided to take a risk. The main thing is when the leak occurred, whether it managed to spread around the world, and whether it affected the ratings and sales of the product. In the case of “Sherlock,” nothing terrible happened: the series appeared the day before its official release, in Russian, and did not have time to spread around the world. Apparently, Channel One provided arguments that suited the BBC, and that was the end of the story.

About the successor to "Game of Thrones"

- In two years, Game of Thrones, which was your trump card, will end. What can replace it - "Westworld"?

HBO is telling everyone that yes, Westworld will replace it, it’s no coincidence that they worked on it so long and painstakingly. If you look at American ratings, the first season did even better than the beginning of Game of Thrones. We also have good indicators: thanks to “Westworld,” we grew by 30 percent. There is a chance that it will become, if not a new “Game of Thrones,” then something close in scale. There are probably no other contenders. There is a cool “The Young Pope”, but it is aesthetic, intellectual and will never gather the same audience as “Game of Thrones”. There is a smart, intelligent, sharp, relevant “House of Cards”, but again it’s not for everyone.

photos and videos: Ivan Anisimov

There is a boom in paid subscriptions to films and TV series in Russia: according to the consulting company Jʼson & Partners, in 2016 this segment doubled. The online cinema Amediateka grew faster than others: last year it reached breakeven, and revenue increased to 600 million rubles. This is almost half of the revenue of Amedia TV, a television company within Amedia, Russia’s largest private film studio for the production of TV series. The company's CEO, Denis Gorshkov, told Inc. how Amediateka saved its parent company, how it is trying to retain Game of Thrones fans, and why online cinema rental certificates will benefit pirates.

Exclusive for sale

When we launched in 2013, there was no culture in Russia of paying for content on the Internet. Over these 4 years, the premium pay TV market has formed and began to grow, as has the VoD (video on demand) market, especially the online part. Compared to the previous year, in 2016 Amediateka subscribers doubled.

Now people 25-45 years old from Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large cities are ready to pay for content. They value their time, rarely watch broadcast TV, choose the content and viewing time themselves, and want everything to be simple, understandable, accessible, and on their favorite device.

We entered the market quite aggressively with a lot of content - in the hope that people would come running to us and start paying. This did not happen: the formation of the audience took several years. It was possible to enter modestly, and increase the content mass by building distribution (we entered into agreements with operators and vendors, and were engaged in promotion).

Now new HBO series and films in Russia will only be available on our services. We signed our first contract in 2013 before the launch of Amediateka - HBO was our anchor supplier from the very beginning. Over the course of six months of negotiations, we moved to the expanded status of HBO branded network (branded network - Inc.).

We need the HBO deal to beat our competitors. Most online cinemas in Russia have almost the same catalog, but we have 70-80% exclusive content. Releasing cool TV series - growth drivers - at the same time as the US and UK is a big advantage. Want to watch Game of Thrones? That way! Do you want Westworld? He is here - and nowhere else.

The contract with HBO involves the purchase of all content. The Russian audience is not interested in all Western TV series and films; we add them to the catalog for variety.

Our subscription is more expensive than our competitors (for example, ivi, Okko or MeGoGo) because we pay the studios, including for exclusives. (A subscription to Amediateka costs 599 rubles per month, to Okko - from 99 to 599 rubles per month - Inc.). There is a lower limit - due to margins and payments to studios, as well as commissions to vendors and platforms.

In 2013, Amedia TV launched the Amediateka online service, available on the main platforms (web, mobile, SmartTV, Apple TV) and set-top boxes of pay TV operators. In 2016, the service reached profitability. The total revenue of Amedia TV for 2016 amounted to 1.3 billion rubles (40% higher than in 2015).

Better than in the movies

"Amediateka" in numbers

SOURCE: company data, Jʼson & Partners

600

million rubles- Amediateka’s revenue for 2016.

50%

- share"Amediateki" in the revenue structure of "Amedia TV".

50×50

– -distribution share between SVoD and PayTV in Amedia TV revenue.

>600

thousand paid subscribers of premium services in 2016.

5

months- average life time of an Amediateka user.

From rental to pirate

Rental licenses for TV series will ruin our business and give it to pirates.(In the spring, the State Duma discussed the possibility of obliging online cinemas to obtain rental certificates for showing films. - Inc.). We won’t be able to release series at the same time as the whole world, and no one will pay if the premieres have to wait (“distribution” takes from several weeks to several months).

The tightening of responsibility for content has not yet affected us. What saves us is that we are a closed, paid service, marked 18+, and we do not yet have restrictions, as on terrestrial television.

Netflix is ​​not our competition. For a year and a half of global expansion, there is no localization of the service in Russia (not counting several series in Russian dubbing), local marketing, work with audiences or operators. Without this there will be no results.

If not for piracy, the company's revenue would have increased significantly. Pirates love to steal TV series directly in the Amedia dubbing (for example, for “Game of Thrones” we do an almost full-fledged theatrical dubbing with 18-20 voices). We hope that at least some of the pirate loopholes will be closed once the Mirror Law comes into force.

Single "Vinyl"

TV series sometimes fail. For example, the American “Empire” - a musical drama with a hip-hop soundtrack, leading in ratings in the United States - is almost not interesting to Russians. And the high-profile premiere from Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger, “Vinyl,” on which big bets were made, failed in its first season.

It happens that we buy a series at a presale - for example, it was made by a cool director or producer, a supercast from a big movie - but the series does not take off. Then you have to pull it out, come up with marketing or voice acting with Russian stars, like with “Empire” or the TV series “Jane The Virgin”.

In 2-3 years, competition in the online cinema market will move to a new level. If platforms are now competing with the quality of service and the volume of the catalog, then the struggle for subscribers will soon begin with the help of exclusive rights and their own projects.

For 5 years now, all the creators of the series have been wanting to come up with a new “Game of Thrones,” but it hasn’t worked out.“Game of Thrones” ratings are growing in its 7th season, and views in “Amediatek” are 10 times more than their closest competitors. There is a whole layer of fans who watch new episodes at 4 am as soon as the episode is released. This only happened when the new Twin Peaks came out - at 5 am there was already traffic on the site.

The secret of Game of Thrones is that it is a fairy tale for adults. Dragons fly in it, but also sex, violence and political intrigue. This is a unique project and already a phenomenon of mass culture, and we would rather make local stories with Russian stars, mentally close and understandable to our audience.

We follow the interests of our audience and take this into account in new projects. Among the Russian TV series, “Method”, “Majors”, “Sofia”, “Optimists”, and the historical drama “Catherine” were popular - apparently, there is an interest in the history of the Russian Empire.

To gain millions of subscribers, we need Russian TV series that will be released only here. Therefore, we plan to develop our own production of Amedia. But producing series is more expensive than buying them, and we need high-quality projects that are not inferior to HBO's production.

General Director of Amedia TV Denis Gorshkov: how to get Russians used to paying for TV series

National Media Group (REN TV, Channel Five, etc.) and STS Media (STS, Domashny, etc.) are expanding their joint business. The holdings are creating a company that will manage their Internet assets, including the Videomore online cinema and the websites of six TV channels. The new alliance will be headed by former CEO of Amedia TV Denis Gorshkov.

The general director of Amedia TV, Leonard Blavatnik and Alexander Akopov, Denis Gorshkov is leaving the company, his friends told Kommersant. He will be responsible for the development of digital projects of the National Media Group (NMG) and STS Media in the status of general director of their new common company, say top managers of these holdings. Denis Gorshkov confirmed this information to Kommersant. Alexander Akopov clarified that... O. The company's sales director, Dmitry Sychugov, has been appointed general director of Amedia TV. Representatives of NMG and STS Media declined to comment.

Vyacheslav Murugov, CEO of STS Media, in an interview with Kommersant

Due to synergy, both we and NMG channels will strengthen our positions in the market

CTC Media and NMG have been working closely together for a long time. The holdings are connected by common shareholders: the structures of Rossiya Bank Yuri Kovalchuk and his partners own shares in both. Previously, CTC Media and NMG had already established three joint companies, in which they combined the sale of sponsorship on their channels, film purchases from majors and back offices. In all three alliances, NMG owns 51%, CTC Media - 49%.

The fourth company, which will be headed by Denis Gorshkov, will manage the digital and transmedia projects of the holdings; it is now at the registration stage, explains a Kommersant source familiar with the situation. The new enterprise will receive management of all digital resources of STS Media and NMG, with the exception of news and socio-political sites of the Izvestia MIC - they are still supervised by the general director of REN TV and Izvestia MIC Vladimir Tyulin. Thus, the alliance will include the Videomore service owned by STS Media, the websites of six TV channels of two holdings (STS, Domashny, Che, CTC Love, REN TV and Channel Five), their mobile applications and accounts on social networks .

Transmedia projects involve the use and adaptation of content in different media, for example on air and the Internet, collaboration with advertisers specifically for digital platforms, etc. In 2013–2016, this area at CTC Media was supervised by Alexey Pivovarov, who headed the department of transmedia projects holding. After his departure, the company did not have a separate top manager in this area. Denis Gorshkov will be involved in the Internet in larger volumes than Mr. Pivovarov, since he receives the resources of six channels instead of four. Now these platforms live separately, the merger will give an increase in income from the presence of TV channels in digital, a source in NMG believes. The holdings expect Mr. Gorshkov to develop online products, increase monetization in paid and advertising models, unify technological solutions, as well as integrate the Vitrina TV project and work with Big Data in advertising, the Kommersant source added.

Earlier, Kommersant’s interlocutors in online cinemas said that Denis Gorshkov could head Vitrina TV, but sources in NMG deny this: NMG Deputy General Director for Strategy Alexey Yanchishin remains its head. Mr. Gorshkov will participate in “Showcase TV” only as an expert along with representatives of other holdings. This is an ambitious project for TV channels: NMG established Vitrina TV in September 2017 to launch a common online platform for the largest media holdings, which will manage their content on the Internet. The holdings had been discussing this possibility for several years before. Together with NMG, Channel One, VGTRK and STS Media are participating in the project. One of the largest participants in the media market, Gazprom-Media, dropped out of the project last summer and is now developing online distribution on its own.