OCTOBER 2011
mipcom
www.mipcom.com An official MIPCOM publication
®
Focus o n russia CHANNEL ONE RUSSIA CEO
Konstantin Ernst See page 8
Une Russia+J.indd 1
VGTRK AND CHANNEL RUSSIA 1
RT EDITOR IN CHIEF
Anton Zlatopolsky
Margarita Simonyan
See page 12
See page 14
Also inside:
Focus On Russia events • Russian industry overview • Foreign companies in Russia • Scripted content • Documentary • Formats ... and much more
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contents i intervieWs
Number one in Russia CEO Konstantin Ernst is in Cannes this year for MIPCOM’s first-ever Focus On Russia. He spoke to Rafael Saakov
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Building a global reputation VGTRK first deputy chairman and Channel Russia 1 CEO Anton Zlatopolsky spoke to Rafael Saakov 12 RT is a YouTube hit RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan shares the story of the 24-hour news channel’s global success with Rafael Saakov
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i overview
Russia: your chance to learn Want to know more about Russian media?
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i features
The big rush into Russia Long before Russia became one of the so-called BRICS economies, the country was a target for foreign media companies 21 Russia is open for business Trawl through the last couple of decades of TV history and you won’t see Russian companies crop up in the credits of many international coproductions. But that situation is changing 24
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Having fun with formats Russians have always held great affection for scripted drama and comedies. But echoing recent trends around the world, Russian audiences have found it 26 impossible to resist the appeal of entertainment, reality and lifestyle formats Everybody loves a good script The Russian market for scripted content is booming. Fuelled by increased competition between networks, the period since 2006 has seen a surge in both original content and format adaptations. Andy Fry reports 30 True stories of Biblical proportions Russia’s rich history is a gift for documentary filmmakers
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Who needs Google and Facebook? Why bother logging on to Facebook to make Russian friends when you’re far more 36 likely to meet new pals on VKontakte?
mipcom Focus on russia October 2011. Director of Publications Paul Zilk ®
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor in Chief Julian Newby Deputy Editor Debbie Lincoln Sub Editor Clive Bull Technical Editor in Chief Herve Traisnel Deputy Technical Editor in Chief Frederic Beauseigneur Graphic Designer Carole Peres Contributing Editors Andy Fry, Rafael Saakov Editorial Management Boutique Editions PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Content Director Jean-Marc Andre Publications Production and Development Manager Martin Screpel Publishing Product Manager Chealsy Choquette Publishing Co-ordinators Emilie Lambert, Amrane Lamiri, David Le Chapelain Productions Assistant Veronica Pirim Production Assistant, Cannes Office Eric Laurent Printer Riccobono Imprimeurs, Le Muy (France) Management, Marketing & Sales Team Director of the Entertainment Division Anne de Kerckhove Director of the Television Division Laurine Garaude Director of Digital Media Ted Baracos Sales Director Sabine Chemaly Marketing Director Stephane Gambetta Programme Director Tania Dugaro Managing Director (UK / Australia / New Zealand) Peter Rhodes OBE Sales Manager Elizabeth Delaney Vice President Sales and Business Development, Americas Robert Marking Vice President Business Development, North America JP Bommel Executive Sales Director, North America MJ Sorenson Sales Executive Panayiota Pagoulatos Sales Managers Paul Barbaro, Nathalie Gastone International Sales Manager Fabienne Germond Sales Executives Liliane Dacruz, Cyril Szczerbakow Sales Manager Samira Haddi Digital Media Sales Manager Nancy Denole Australia and New Zealand Representative Natalie Apostolou China Representative Anke Redl CIS Representative Alexandra Modestova English Speaking Africa Representative Arnaud de Nanteuil India Representative Anil Wanvari Israel Representative Guy Martinovsky Japan Representative Lily Ono Latin America Representative Elisa Aquino Middle-East Representative Bassil Hajjar Poland Representative Monika Bednarek South Korea Representative Sunny Kim Taiwan Representative Irene Liu Germany Representative (Digital Media Sector) Renate Radke Adam Published by Reed MIDEM, BP 572, 11 rue du Colonel Pierre Avia, 75726 Paris Cedex 15, France. Contents © 2011, Reed MIDEM Market Publications. Publication registered 4th quarter 2011. ISSN 2104-2179. Printed on 100% recycled paper
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Focus On Russia I October 2011 I www.mipcom.com
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Focus on russia
Number one in Russia Channel One Russia has been the country’s leading broadcaster for some 16 years, and today reaches around 98.8% of the viewing population. At its head from the outset has been CEO Konstantin Ernst, in Cannes this year to welcome delegates to the Russia House and to spearhead MIPCOM’s first-ever Focus On Russia. He spoke to Rafael Saakov
What has kept Channel One at the top for so many years?
HOW DO you assess the growth of the television industry in Russia? Over the last 10 years Russian television has been one of the fastest growing industries — in terms of technology and ideas, and in terms of business growth. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, television from the very beginning focused on talented and powerful people, unlike many other industries functioning within the Russian economy. Russian television is one of the world’s largest television industries when you consider it in terms of technological quality, content, and advertising revenue. In the Nineties Russian audiences were offered a large quantity of previously denied product — films and series from the West. But since 2000 the popularity of these products has declined, with audiences demanding more local product. So the time has come for Russian producers to create more and more original content. That said, all the major international hit formats have been adapted and broadcast here with different degrees of success. As our partners from international companies say, the Russian versions of some formats are considered among the best in the world. 8I
A s i n sp or t s , you have to go out to t he r i ng a nd prove you r sup er ior it y. W h i le a n aut hor c a n w r ite one g reat b o ok a nd r e m a i n a g r e at w r it er fo r e ver, a c h a n n el h a s t o p r o ve it s l e a d p o s i t i o n n o t j u s t e ve r y s e a s o n , b u t e ve r y d a y. T h i s i s , o f c o u r s e , t h e s wo r d o f D a m o c l e s t h a t h a n g s o ve r u s a nd do e s not g i ve u s a n o p p or t u n it y t o rela x . O n t he ot h er ha nd , it d r i ve s u s to i mprove a l l t he t i me. For ex a mple, on t he e ve of t he 2 011-1 2 s e a s on I wou ld d i s c u s s pro je c t s a nd id e a s for t he s e a s on 2 01 2 -1 3; a l l t he p r i n c ip a l s er i e s a nd for mat s for t he new s ea s on have eit her b e en pro duc e d or a re i n t he pro duc t ion now. Work i ng t h i s way mea n s you a re c on st a nt l y t r y i ng to s e c ond - g ue s s what hap p en s i n t he f ut u re, a nd whet her or not you g ue s s c or re c t l y deter m i ne s whet her or not you rema i n t he ma rket leader. T he cha n nel ea r n s money for ad ver t i si ng t hat go e s on a i r to d ay, but we c on st a nt l y rei n ve st t ho s e revenue s i nt o t he c ont ent wh i c h w i l l b e relea s e d i n one, t wo or even t h re e yea r s . You have to get u s e d to t he fac t t hat you a re c on st a nt l y i nve st i ng i n t he f ut u re.
How is Channel One structured? Channel One is a joint stock company, although many think the channel is under control of government. Indeed the controlling stake is owned by the state, but under Russian law, if there is at least 1% of private capital in the company (and we have 49%), the state budget can not be used. Therefore Channel One, as the leading Russian television channel, does not receive state money for production. Within the federal broadcasting act, we get money for distribution in cities with populations of less than 250 thousand people, because that is otherwise not a commercial proposition.
Focus On Russia I October 2011 I www.mipcom.com
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Focus on russia So the channel is dependent on advertising? Channel One is 95% advertising-funded the remaining five percent from rights earnings. I have always restricted sales of our content internally in Russia. We could make money from this, but then we risk losing the identity of the product. I have always insisted on maintaining a Channel One look to all of our productions. We do sell a significant element of our content to other territories, such as the Baltic states, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. And we have a wholly-owned subsidiary, the First Channel company. This is a worldwide network which distributes the channel’s content as far as North America, Australia and Southeast Asia.
What is the proportion of foreign to local content on Channel One? In entertainment it is up to 95% home-grown, with some of these shows being Russian versions of the big international formats. We have successfully completed seven seasons of Star Factory (the Endemol format), a Russian version of America’s Got Talent is very popular here now. We tend to work closely to the western format at the time of launch, and then we try to adapt the projects to Russian tastes. For example, America’s Got Talent is mainly singing contest, whereas we play it more as a variety show. We are in the seventh year of our version of French format It’s A Knockout. We breathed new life into this project and it became international with Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and China also participating. We are also working very closely with the American studios — for example, Fox. We did two seasons of the Russian version of Prison Break series — known as Escape — and our US colleagues were very happy with that. It is based on the broad ideas behind Prison Break, but is totally Russian. And Fox bought the movies Night Watch and Day Watch, produced by Channel One for distribution around the world. These were a great success in Russian cinema. As a result of all this we are discussing many further projects film and television co-productions with them right now.
And Inventive) and intellectual game show What? Where? When?. For many years — even decades — these programmes have proven so poular around the county that they have become more than just TV shows. People play KVN and What? Where? When? right across the former Soviet Union. In fact, there are some very powerful original formats in Russia and many outside the country simply do not know about so much of what we do. So one of the goals for the MIPCOM Focus On Russia initiative is to demonstrate the quality of Russian television and to draw attention to it.
KONSTANTIN ERNST l Born in Moscow, February 6, 1961 l In 1983 graduated from the Leningrad State University, department of biology; Ph.D. in Biochemistry l In 1995, named general producer of the Obschestvennoe Rossiyskoe Televidenie (ORT) l In 1999, named CEO of ORT, which has been known as Channel One Russia since September 2002 l In 2009, headed the creative team for the Eurovision Song Contest. EBU acknowledged the show as the most remarkable and far-reaching in the history of Eurovision, with a record-breaking audience of 122 million
What are your hopes for the MIPCOM Focus On Russia initiative? MIPCOM is the most important event for the global television industry. The industry gathers here not only to buy content, but also to discuss what to do next. That is a kind of collective experience of civilisation. The Russian TV market now deserves to be presented at this kind of level at MIPCOM and we will use it to demonstrate all our achievements to to the international industry. Those who work closely with us already know a lot, but it’s also an opportunity to communicate with a wider group of professionals than we have ever done before. Who knows what MIPCOM delegates might learn from us? — Russia being such a vast country. We are bringing plenty of content to Cannes, for example the talk show Let’s Get Married about relationships between men and women; and the docudrama Understand. Forgive, which features real-life psychologists examining different cases. Or our new project Special Mission, produced jointly with the Russian Ministry of Defense, features ordinary people and celebrities who are put into Russian special forces training for several weeks — driving tanks, using live ammunition, working with hostage situations — overcoming all kinds of obstacles — while living in a military camp. We will also present our comedy show KVN (Club Of The Funny 10 I
Focus On Russia I October 2011 I www.mipcom.com
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Focus on russia Building a global reputation Founded in 1990, the All-Russia State Television And Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), is the largest media holding in Russia. VGTRK first deputy chairman and Channel Russia 1 CEO Anton Zlatopolsky spoke to Rafael Saakov VGTRK operates a news and entertainment channel Russia 1, sport and entertainment channel Russia 2, 24-hour news channel Russia 24, culture channel Russia K, worldwide Russian-language RTR-Planet, and the Russian version of Euronews. First deputy chairman Anton Zlatopolsky says that like Russian television in general, VGTRK has been “absorbing and adapting what has been successful on the global television market”. He adds: “Accessibility and the highest levels of foreign content stimulate us to continuously improve the quality of our products, and to seek and adapt the most interesting ideas and formats for Russia.” For example, Zlatopolsky says that Russia 1 was the first channel to attempt a format of the complexity of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. “The success of this show inspired us to take an even greater risk with the format Dancing On Ice, which became one of the most popular programmes of the 2006-07 season. ”Our programme catalogue is gaining more and more attention on the international market,” Zlatopolsky says. “Among our partners are Discovery, Canal+, BBC, CCTV, TVP, YLE, Phoenix Sattellite and many other respected companies.” He adds that overseas partnerships help the company to serve an audience that has almost limitless choice of channels. “We take huge responsibility as a TV channel that integrates and expresses the interests of different people in a large country. And yet we face very tough day-to-day competition. Our audience trusts us and we respect them, and in such circumstances that can only be achieved by offering the highest-quality content. And this can happen only if you are open to talent and new ideas, regardless of their nationality. In this sense we are cosmopolitans.” High on Zlatopolsky’s agenda at MIPCOM is Rasputin, a Russian-French co-production handled by EuropaCorp/Roissy (France) and Sovteleexport (Russia). Rasputin stars French actors Gerard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant, and Vladimir Mashkov — all playing alongside a largely Russian cast. “The French side insisted on shooting at the historic locations in St. Petersburg where the events took place,” Zlatopolsky says. “It’s impossible to recreate the atmosphere of such places as Tsarskoe Selo, the Winter Palace, the Yusupov Palace, 12 I
Gerard Depardieu stars in the Franco-Russian coproduction Rasputin
or the Peter and Paul Fortress anywhere else. The film creates a feeling of complete historical accuracy which is fascinating. Our director, Josee Dayan, not only survived in a snowy St Petersburg but has also created a unique film where the Russian and French cultures unite in harmony.” Zlatopolsky says MIPCOM plays an important role in “establishing the prestige of, and building interest in, the content of any country”. He adds: “As a distributor of content, VGTRK has been attending MIPCOM and MIPTV for over 10 years. During this time, film and television production in Russia has evolved enormously, and is achieving its goal of competing at the highest level. MIPCOM will be a very important indicator of interest in our programmes, and Anton Zlatopolsky the Russian industry as a whole.”
Focus On Russia I October 2011 I www.mipcom.com
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Focus on russia RT is a YouTube hit RT, the 24-hour news channel, has built an audience of hundreds of millions in just six years. The company’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan spoke to Rafael Saakov about RT’s achievements, editorial approach — and its success on YouTube RT, a round-the-clock news channel (previously known as Russia Today) broadcasting in English, Arabic, and Spanish, is available to more than 400 million viewers worldwide. Launched in 2005, today RT has 21 bureaux in 16 states, with a presence in Washington, London, Paris, Delhi, Cairo, Baghdad and many other places around the world. The total number of views on RT’s YouTube channel has exceeded half a billion. RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan calls it “a remarkable achievement”. “I believe television news will eventually move to the web, because it’s faster and more convenient,” Simonyan says. “Those channels that can make it big online and draw as many viewers as possible will ultimately be in a winning position. We pay a lot of attention to new media platforms. And as a result, on the world’s largest video hosting site, YouTube, RT is a regular leader in the number of views. RT’s revenue from YouTube has already exceeded $500,000. RT has three news channels broadcasting around the world in English, Spanish and Arabic; the RT America channel broadcasts in primetime from RT’s studio in Washington; and the company recently launched the documentary channel RTDoc. “Documentaries are very popular nowadays, and we felt that we had a pretty impressive stock of content, especially documentaries about Russia, so we thought it wouldn’t take much to set up a new channel entirely dedicated to it,” Simonyan says. “It was up-and-running quite quickly. Now everything works smoothly, cable networks pick the channel for their packages, and we plan to expand its distribution.” So far, RTDoc’s content is primarily made up of documentaries filmed during the past six years, but this autumn the company is set to hire more staff with the aim of putting out at least 10 high-quality documentaries a month. “Of course, RTDoc will also air films produced by our Western partners but we only broadcast films that are in line with our editorial policy and RT’s main message of being an alternative news channel. Even if some films are not about Russia, our viewers will still be able to appreciate the choice.” At MIPCOM, Simonyan says RT’s presence is more about giving than receiving. “I don’t know any single news channel that would use as little agency-provided footage as we do to cover international events,” she says. “Of course, our angle often differs so much from the mainstream that agencies can’t provide us with the footage we need.” RT makes 95% of its documentaries in-house, the remaining 5% it buys 14 I
from foreign companies. “We don’t buy anything on the Russian market. We are at MIPCOM because we have something to offer. We have a great online project called FreeVideo, which offers to all interested channels and agencies high-quality RT footage in the three most popular formats, accompanied with scripts in five languages.” She adds: “So far the project has proven to be very successful, with over seven thousand subscribers from more than 185 countries around the globe, with CNN, ABC News, BBC, Fox News, Reuters and AP among them. All footage from the FreeVideo website can be used for free. Legally, we are a non-profit organisation. Our only goal is to report on events bringing a Russian viewpoint.”
A WORLD VIEW “WE HAVE had many successful projects with a host of Arabic networks — live satellite linkups and joint programmes in a number of Arab countries,” Simonyan says. “Now we are going to employ this experience at our Spanish channel, as it is developing. Almost half of our budget is spent on international distribution. We get some money from advertising but, like with any other international news station, it doesn’t compensate for the huge resources that are invested in broadcasting.”
Focus On Russia I October 2011 I www.mipcom.com
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Focus on russia Russia: your chance to learn
Zakrytaya Shkola (Private School), an adaptation of Globomedia’s El Internado and a recent hit for CTC
Want to know more about Russian media? With the help of some of the country’s key media executives, Andy Fry, Julian Newby and Rafael Saakov discover a vibrant, complex and booming television industry in the country FOR YEARS hidden to the world under the cloak of communist rule, aspects of modern-day Russia are still a mystery to many around the world — not least its television industry. The Focus On Russia initiative in Cannes is designed to help change this situation. In the words of Channel One Russia CEO Konstantin Ernst: “The Russian TV market now deserves to be presented at this kind of level at MIPCOM and we will use it to demonstrate all our achievements to the international industry. Those who work closely with us already know a lot, but it’s also an opportunity to communicate with a wider group of professionals than we have ever done before.” The statistics show a mature industry. The country has over 330 television 16 I
channels, over 20 of which are free-to-air and funded by the traditional advertising model; cable revenues are now in excess of €723m. The country’s top-three channels are Ernst’s Channel One, TV Channel Russia and NTV. The state-owned Russian Television and Radio Broadcasting Network (RTRBN) employs over 20,000 people and provides services to 900 television companies and 500 radio stations. Russia’s transition to digital broadcasting is on course to reach 95% of the population by 2015; President Medvedev has set a goal of at least 26 digital television channels by that year. CTC is an entertainment channel, launched back in 1996, and its audience has grown 10 times to 100 million across 94% of the country over
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Focus on russia that period. “CTC has always been a family entertainment brand where each family member can find something interesting and exciting,” says CTC CEO Vyatcheslav Murugov. “We are now building a channel of adventures for the audience to feel the excitement that is not available to them in the everyday life.” A recent hit for CTC is Zakrytaya Shkola (Private School), an adaptation of Globomedia’s El Internado. “However we are going to make original projects a priority in the near future,” Murugov says. “Adaptation is great, but each format has an original version which you can now easily find and watch online which means that all the advantages of the adaptation can be lost. The most successful Western projects instantly become popular thanks to the internet and it makes no sense to produce domestic versions.” Sales outside Russia are now a priority for CTC. “I am confident that our series Kadetstvo, about boys studying in the cadet corps, and Ranetki, about a girls pop-band, would be perfect for sales in Eastern Europe, or even in China. We also have original sitcoms and sketch shows built on a humour which everybody understands. And we are willing to sell these formats out. Humour in Russia is one of the main components of viewer’s interest in a project. Probably, it distracts people from the existing problems of the everyday life.” Eastern Europe and China are targets particularly for the telenovelas of Star Media Group, the production and distribution company headed up by CEO Vlad Ryashin. “We have a wide portfolio of different genres — telenovelas, primetime series, telefilms and feature films,
RED SQUARE RED Square Group is the production arm of Channel One an d the country’s largest production house. A prolific producer of successful international formats for the Russian market, Red Square Group chief creative officer Ilya Krivitsky, says his company’s priority is to create original product. “We are really proud of a large number of formats fully developed by our company in a variety of genres,” Krivitsky says. “For example, our new project — a unique reality show Special Mission which is made with the Russian Ministry of Defense. Everybody could probably do a show with a military contest but we had a different look at the process. The methodology is a symbiosis between technologies of Survivor! and Operation Triumph. On one hand, this is an indoor reality with participants living in barracks under the constant surveillance of cameras, but there is also a separate competition.” Krivitsky says Red Square is always moving ahead in technology too, in line with Channel One’s production values. “We always pay attention to every stage of production, especially to new solutions — for example, one of our latest achievements is the imposition of 3D-animated characters and graphics on to a regular picture, not only during post production but also during the live broadcast. After Channel One switched to broadcasting in 16:9 format, we reconstructed the technology systematically while switching to HD.”
The Great Patriotic War (Star Media/ Channel One)
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Focus on russia CTC’s Vyatcheslav Murugov
ECONOMIC GROWTH RUSSIA’s economy is growing at about 4% a year right now. While this is lower than pre-2011 forecasts, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is still expecting Russia to almost double GDP per capita in 10 years to become a top-five global economy.
docudramas, entertainment and infotainment programmes,” Ryashin says. “It amounts to more than 500 hours of TV content every year.” Star recently sold the rights for the adaptation of its film The Weather Station to two US studios. “We hope that the Hollywood remake will be available in coming years. This is the second case of such co-operation on the Russian-American TV market,” Ryashin says. “We also sell Star Media’s library abroad. In addition to European partners with whom we have been working for several years, we are now seeing activity from Scandinavian countries and Asia. For three years we are working with Chinese TV stations, have already signed a second deal with Japan. Distributors from France and Spain decided to represent interests of our company in their markets.” Star is also benefiting from a growing worldwide demand for docudrama. “We have produced two seasons of our original project The Great Patriotic War together with Channel One and it has received high praise from our international partners, Ryashin says.” At MIPCOM we will present the English-language adaptation of this series produced in conjunction with our British partner History channel.” Documentary, news, and information, together make up a large component of the output of Russia’s Ren TV, whose general producer Dimitry Velikanov says this sets it apart from other channels. “Unlike a number of our colleagues and competitors Ren TV has news programmes as well as a fairly strong analytics,” Velikanov says, citing popular news show Week With Marianna Maksimovskaya, and current affairs programme What Happens?, hosted by journalist Margarita Simonyan, RT’s editor-in-chief. “Another priority for us is investigative journalism, which is popular among our viewers. For weekends we produce the magazine programme Military Secret, a war documentary by producer Igor Prokopenko. And we have a new series Mechanical Orange, which looks at new technologies and gadgets.” Some 25% of Ren TV’s output is from abroad. “There are plenty of quality foreign products around, but we are finding that Russian audiences are becoming increasingly interested in domestic product,” Velikanov says. “Two years ago we produced a joint project with China, 18 I
The Last Secret Of The Master, written by Igor Prokopenko. This is 26-episode detective story with elements of melodrama. Russian, Chinese and even French actors took part in the film, as TF1 has acquired the rights for France. We also have a co-production with the Ukraine — the format Do Not Lie To Me, launched jointly with Russia’s 1+1 Channel. The Ukrainian market is developing rapidly and we are actively cooperating with our partners in the documentary sector. We are currently launching a series of Mystic Stories which studio Film.ua produces for Ren TV.” The TVC channel belongs to the Moscow city government, which means it gives a certain proportion of its air time over to issue that relate to the Russian capital. ”Our goal is to show the life of the city in all its diversity,” says TV Center Channel general producer Alexander Oleinikov. ”We are the market leader when it comes to audiences comprising educated decision makers. It is a rather conservative audience however, age 45-plus, and one which grew up in the Soviet Union — which is sometimes irksome to advertisers. But we are interested in working with this audience as its tastes are constantly changing, they want to participate in discussions, and have a fairly active social position. Oleinikov sees a future where the internet plays a greater role in the habits of television viewers. “Certainly, television and internet are already mixing with each other. And technology continues to evolve — and today we see that almost all TV channels and brands have their own pages on Facebook. This will only increase. If before television was the leader and viewers were the followers, it’s now vice versa — the viewer wants to decide what to watch and when. I don’t think TV will lose its identity, as it didn’t lose it with the new technologies that came before — colour, stereo and so on. This is a specific path of development. The problem with internet TV is that it the internet is a very individual experience, while television, especially in our country, is unifying the
AD REVENUE LEADING independent media company CTC Media reported a 28% increase in revenues for the quarter ended June 30, 2011 (approximately $204.5m). A bellweather for the Russian TV sector, it said its Russian ad revenues were up 30% year-on-year (a good sign). CEO Anton Kudryashov says: “Our Russian channels were 100% sold-out in the second quarter, and are now over 90% sold-out for the full year at significantly higher prices than in 2010.” Increased ad revenue is fuelling higher programme budgets. CTC programming expenses were up 30% year-on-year, which reflected a more expensive programming mix for CTC’s Russian channels.
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Focus on russia whole family.” Red Media is gaining a significant market share of cable and satellite broadcasting across Russia. Its total audience is over 58 million in more than 16 million households. Red Media has 13 thematic niche channels including: India TV; Comedy TV; Much TV; martial arts channel Fighter; TV Boulevard; Kitchen TV; Interesting TV; and Auto Plus, offer lifestyle programming. Two education channels, 365 Days Of TV and HD Life; Russian Night for adults; and music channels A Minor and Europa Plus TV complete the bouquet. The share of foreign content on Red Media channels is 50%. “Such a big country will always need channels for a mass audience but, nevertheless, the niche TV audience is growing every year,” says Red Media general producer Irina Dorogan. “Niche TV is very useful because specialised channels allow viewers to receive specific information that meets their needs at any time of day or night, whether it’s sports news, music, movies or sitcoms.” Red Media is a player on the international market too. “We are selling some of our content to foreign companies, with programmes broadcast in Europe, including Israel,” Dorogan says. “We have also signed a major deal for the content of Russian Night with Korea. At the moment we are negotiating with a major Canadian content aggregator on our programmes. And there’s co-production too. With international sports organisation M-1 Global we produced the first sports reality show, M-1 Fighter, for the Fighter channel last year and we plan for this to continue.” As well as its own channels, Red Media also provides technical support for companies including Sony Entertainment Television, SyFy Universal, Universal channel, Tiji, Gulli, AXN Sci-Fi, Playboy TV, TV Sale, Fashion TV, Comedy TV, and Shopping Live. “In terms of channel distribution Red Media is working with nearly 1,000 cable operators, as well as the largest satellite operators in Russia, the CIS and Baltic states,” Dorogan says.
Ren TV’s Dimitry Velikanov
Star Media Group’s Vlad Ryashin Russia’s TNT Channel broadcasts some around 30% of foreign programming and 70% home-grown, and is thirsty for formats —both scripted and unscripted. “We produce probably the most popular and highranked sitcoms in Russia,” says TNT Channel CEO Roman Petrenko. “It all started with the Married ... With Children — its Russian adaptation Happy Together has been working for six years already and still shows great figures. Another big hit here is Psychic Battle, an adaptation of Britain’s Psychic Challenge. Previously it was not a huge hit anywhere, and now in Russia is one of the highest rating programmes. Another successful format we have is, Intuition, an adaptation of Identity, the NBC quiz show hosted by Donny Osmond. “We are working now on adapting our products for the international market,” Petrenko says. “One of our original sitcoms which has a stunning success in Russia is called Interns and revolves around the lives of four young inexperienced medical interns. We are already in talks with several big studios and distributors. We realise that not all of our products may travel well, but there are some pearls which might be really good for any channel in the world.” In cinema, Russia has some way to go both in terms of making its mark on the world, and when it comes to enjoying the sort of growth that TV is experiencing right now. “In the movie sector we aren’t so much competing for audiences as we are for state money,” says Yuri Sapronov, CEO of Russian World Studios, a key player in series production in Russia. “There are a number of objective factors hindering the development of the industry. Film distribution is essentially delivered into the hands of
PAY TV LOCAL research firm Discovery Research Group says the number of Russian homes receiving PayTV services grew from 14.5 million to 16.3 million during 2010 (67% cable, 31% satellite and the balance of 2% via IPTV platforms).
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Focus on russia majors. Russian producers and Russian products don’t always have easy access to that commercial area. So we have to create the conditions in which the majors would be interested to invest in our films. And we will get Russian films made on American money with the participation of American specialists. But it will take about five years before our industry starts to work.” Meanwhile the internet could provide a new and valuable outlet for feature film. “Our company has recently signed an agreement with the cinema website Now.Ru where we can now demonstrate our new products. For us this is a very important step and we hope that the first experiment will be successful. With internet everything is clear – you don’t have a line of distributors, cinemas, marketing, advertising and so on, the system is more transparent to the sponsors. I’m not saying that premieres on the internet will replace the cinema premieres in the future — because the internet still lacks a certain atmosphere and an entertainment culture. But, by good positioning, some not-so-expensive and popular stories can still enjoy a substantial online audience. This new channel of cooperation could prove very promising.” Dark World, the first Russian commercial 3D movie, was produced by Central Partnership. The company is the official distributor for Paramount Pictures in Russia, and it also works hard to bring independent films to Russian audiences, for example the work of such cult directors as Woody Allen, the Coen Brothers and Jim Jarmusch, according to Central Partnership CEO Mark Lolo. “Central Partnership has always seen its primary task as being the development of both the distribution and production markets. We were the
Red Media’s Irina Dorogan
Central Partnership’s Mark Lolo
first to switch to digital and 3D-format distribution. Our company created the first Russian website for the legal sale of videos — video24.ru — and has begun to co-operate with professional content aggregators. Central Partnership has offered them large packages of films because we understand that we need to develop this channel of sales.” Meanwhile Lolo sees a positive future for television in his country: “The growth of terrestrial television market in Russia, from 2011-2016, is planned at 13% annually. Viewers are becoming more selective, and are increasingly interested in the thematic and niche channels, and although they still account for only 1.4% of the total advertising pie, the cost for advertisers will grow at 45% annually over the next five years.” He adds: “Action and drama are the most successful genres in Russia, both in cinemas and on TV. However, while Russian cinema audiences regularly show a preference for foreign pictures, the TV audience prefers series produced in Russia. In 2010 almost 84% of TV series broadcast were Russian and in 2011-2016 the share of domestic series may further increase.” • Interviews by Rafael Saakov
TV SERIES SERIES are more popular than any other content in Russia, according to Aegis Media subsidiary Vizeum. According to Vizeum, TV series account for 21% of primetime and secured 50% of TV channel ratings in January-April 2011. Main series commissioners are Channel One, Rossiya 1, NTV, CTC and TNT. One note of warning though; competition from other genres means the amount of series on Channel One and CTC has dropped in the last five years.
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Focus on russia The big rush into Russia
Russian Millioniare (NTV)
Long before Russia became one of the so-called BRICS economies, the country was a target for foreign media companies. When the Soviet Union collapsed in the late 1980s, reports Andy Fry, international investors jostled to play their part in the emerging market economy that was expected to replace it EARLY beneficiaries of the post-Soviet emerging markets in Russia included the US studios, which had plenty of success selling content in the 1990s. Not to be overlooked either was NTV’s ground-breaking decision in 1999 to re-version Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? These days, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? — now owned by Sony Pictures Television (SPT) — airs in primetime on market-leading network Channel One, confirming it as one of the most successful of all
foreign imports. But the 1990s as a whole was something of a false dawn, says Marina Williams, who has been active in the region since the early 1990s and now runs Endemol’s Central & Eastern Europe operation. “Russia really took off at the start of the last decade when the economy started to grow,” she says. “Around 2003/2004, pay TV subscription was picking up and the ad revenue market was growing at 30% a year.” The growth of pay TV was good news for international channel operators. www.mipcom.com I Focus On Russia I October 2011 I 21
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Focus on russia But for content providers it presented a new challenge, says Williams. “New networks launched and powerful producers like Amedia, RWS, Red Square and Star Media emerged. The result was a shift towards local production and reduced reliance on distribution. That demanded a shift in focus from international producers towards formats.” This assessment is confirmed by primetime drama producer RWS, which did its own analysis of trends in 2008. At that time, it found that Russian-made shows (original and format concepts) accounted for 74% share of airtime across the six main TV channels. In 2001, according to RWS, that share was 17%. Among the first to respond to this shift were the likes of Sony Pictures Television and Endemol, which made local versions of shows such as The Nanny and Deal Or No Deal in the middle of the last decade. By 2006, SPT felt confident enough in the market’s prospects to acquire control of Moscow-based producer Lean-M. Subsequently, it was joined by Endemol, Zodiak and Talpa, which also bought into local companies. Drawing on local expertise has been critical to the success of these businesses. But so has the expansion of Russia’s advertising economy.
Commercial networks like CTC, Ren TV and TV3 were keen to find new ways of competing with well-established public broadcasters and became key customers for the global format factories. At the same time, Russia became a lucrative market for leading telenovela producers such as Televisa, Telefe, Armoza and Dori. CTC, to cite one example, had a hit with its own version of Colombian phenomenon Ugly Betty. More recently, it has generated huge ratings with The Boarding School (a remake of Antena 3 chiller El Internado). Others confirm that the market is coming back. 2009 in Russia was a financial nightmare (as it was in most parts of the world). But since then, sales companies have enjoyed increased success says Paul Heaney, CEO of distributor Cineflix Rights: “Our Russian revenues grew 500% last year. In part that’s because we hired a sales executive who focused clearly on the territory. But it’s also a reflection of the fact that the number of channels continues to expand.” In terms of channel roll-out by international companies, Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has shown how seriously it takes the market by opening a Moscow office this year and appointing
Dana Delany in Disney Media Networks’ Body Of Proof
DISNEY IN RUSSIA WHILE the demand for distributed content eased off in the early part of the last decade, one company that has never really struggled to populate Russian platforms with its content is Disney. A key breakthrough came in 2007, when it licensed top films and series to marketleading network Channel One. Disney experienced a knock-back in 2009 when regulators denied it a licence for a free-to-air channel — though it does have Disney Channel Russia on cable and satellite. This reverse hasn’t had an adverse impact on the distribution side of the business, however. As evidence, Ben Pyne, president, global distribution, Disney Media Networks, points to the ground-breaking deal which saw “medical crime drama Body Of Proof premiere on Channel One in Russia before it aired in the US”. Smart promotion for that series helped Channel One secure a 1.4m audience, beating the slot average by 63%.
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Focus on russia Nicholas Walters to the new role of vice-president and general manager for Russia and CIS. According to Walters, Russia is “a major priority for us, and a market where we see real opportunities”. VIMN first entered Russia in 1998 when it launched MTV Russia as a free-to-air service in partnership with ProfMedia. It then followed that up with the launch of kids’ channel Nickelodeon on cable and satellite, and also supplies large amounts of kids’ content to TNT. “We’ve been in Russia for a long time,” says Walters, “but there’s definitely been a lot of excitement in the last 18 months because of the growth in ad revenues and the expansion of pay TV and broadband. For us the time is right to develop our channel and brand portfolio.” The partnership with ProfMedia has been a key part of the strategy, says Walters: “MTV Russia (which now reaches 75% of 11 to 34-yearolds across Russia) was launched in partnership with ProfMedia, a relationship which was renewed and expanded in 2010. There’s no question that having a powerful local partner makes a big difference doing business in Russia.” The 2010 renewal gave ProfMedia exclusive access to live MTV ceremonies live such as the MTV Music Awards, and hit shows like Pimp My Ride and Room Raiders. In addition, VIMN extended the partnership by giving ProfMedia rights to the MTV brand across online, mobile and events. Explaining the rationale, Yulia Solovyova, ProfMedia executive vice-president, says the goal is to expand activities across digital media and events. “Russian youth are incredibly savvy when it comes to technology. We want to ensure we remain ahead of the curve and offer our audiences multiple ways to interact with the MTV brand.” 144_XMEDIA_SP RUSSIA_COM__ 13/09/11 19:10 Page1
Brands is also a key watchword for Walters, who says VIMN is putting great effort into building 360-degree businesses around properties like SpongeBob SquarePants. “But it isn’t all about the brands we import into Russia,” he says. VIMN has also acquired broadcast and digital rights to Riki Group’s popular animation series Kikoriki. “Kikoriki is airing on Nickelodeon in Russia and is also lined up for international distribution. We’d expect to see more Russian-originated properties start to rollout internationally going forward.” Aside from Viacom, companies like Discover y, Modern Times G roup, D i sney, N B C Un i ver sa l a nd L i ber t y Me d ia- ow ne d Chello Zone have all made inroads in Russia. “We first started doing business in Russia in the late 1990s, brokering carriage deals for the likes of Discovery, Turner and Hallmark/Universal and launching our own ser vice,” says Chello Zone vice-president, affiliate sales, L ouise Cottrell. “This year we launched Outdoor Channel on cable and satellite and it has settled down ver y well.” Cottrell is cautiously optimistic about Russia but emphasises the need for genuine local knowledge. “Russia is attractive because it’s a major economy. But it’s a big fragmented market, which takes a lot of effort to manage effectively. It’s also increasingly competitive because of the new local channels that are launching. From a channel point of view, the thing that we’re really waiting for is further growth in digital subscriber take-up. When that happens, there’ll be more opportunity for the international players to enter the market.”
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Focus on russia Russia is open for business Trawl through the last couple of decades of TV history and you won’t see Russian companies crop up in the credits of many international coproductions. But as Andy Fry reports, that sitiuation is changing The Indian, the first Russian TV series filmed in Bollywood
WITH facilities, production talent and locations all in place, there are clear signs that Russian companies are keen to get busy in the co-production space. Not strictly relevant to TV, but indicative of a new era of co-operation, was the news in March 2011 that Russia had become a new member of Eurimages, a fund established by the Council of Europe for the co-production and distribution of European films. As a result, movie co-producers from Russia can submit projects to Eurimages for financial support. Also worth noting was the news in July 2011 that a co-production treaty between Germany and Russia had finally been signed by Germany’s Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and the Russian Federation’s Culture Minister Alexander Avdeev after 10 years in the making. Once again, the immediate beneficiaries are likely to be film producers. But the fact that Russian-backed audiovisual content will now be eligible for German tax breaks and subsidies is sure to have some beneficial impact in areas like animation and TV drama. Proof that Russians are willing to step up to the plate for the right project was a 2007 mini-series based on Leo Tolstoy’s War And Peace. Set 24 I
in St Petersburg, this six-hour English-language mini-series involved seven countries and is reckoned to have cost an eye-watering €28m. Led by Italian firm Lux Vide, with EOS Films (Germany) and Pampa Production (France) in support, the production aired on broadcasters such as RAI in Italy and Rossiya in Russia. Financial contributions came from Italy, France, Germany, Russia, Poland and Spain. Of course, projects like this don’t come along too often — but there are examples of more modestly budgeted projects which show that Russia is getting used to the co-pro model. Leading production house Russian World Studios, for example, has started to spread its activities beyond domestic borders. The best example of this is TV series The Indian. Nominated as Best Drama TV Series at the 51st International Television Festival in Monte Carlo, The Indian was the first Russian TV series filmed in Bollywood and the first Russian-Indian co-production for the past 20 years. Made in association with India Take One Productions, it premiered on Rossiya Channel in October 2010 and received a healthy audience share of 22.5%. As you might expect, the show also aired in India, where it was broadcast
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Focus on russia The $28m co-production War And Peace (Lux Vide/EOS Films/Pampa Production)
on Zee Smile and Doordarshan to mark an official visit by Russian President Dmitri Medvedev. Elsewhere it was picked up by networks in Israel, Ukraine and Azerbaijan. RWS and India Take One are keen to develop their partnership further. Next up, they plan to tell the story of Afanasy Nikitin, a 15th Century Russian explorer who told of his adventures in India in The Journey beyond Three Seas. Significantly, President Medvedev also used his trip to India to meet the local film community, where he discussed issues like digital restoration of old movies, content processing in HD format, film conversion to 3D and co-production of new projects. As we’ve already noted in the documentary section of this supplement, RTR/Rossiya is working with Discovery Enterprises International on a project that will help promote Russian film-making on the international stage. Also active is Star Media, which is seeking co-pro partners for some of its set-piece history productions. An example is The World at War, which tells the story of key battles in World War II. Anyone wanting to know more about the opportunities in the factual genre will need to make sure they attend Focus On Russia: Co-Production Case Studies, which takes place at MIPCOM on Tuesday, October 4, 2011 from 12.00 to 1.245. Running the session will be Georges LeClere, chairman of War & Peace Media Group, which was launched this year by Corona Films. Founded in 1992, Corona has been involved in numerous co-pros and international production projects dating back across the last decade. Examples include Mission Invisible (with Discovery, France 3 and France 5) and Raising The Kursk (with Cine Nova Canada for NBC News/Discovery). Kids is another area where Russia is primed and ready to participate in the co-production space. The big story here is Kikoriki, a hugely popular animation property from Riki Group. While not precisely a copro, the recent news that Viacom International Media Networks has acquired the TV and digital media rights to the property with a view to international expansion is a sign that Russia is reaching out. Not to be overlooked in this arena are the world-class capabilities that Russia’s media industry has developed in gaming and online.
MOSCOW CALLING IN JUNE 2011, co-production experts from around the world descended on Moscow for Moscow Business Square, a networking event during Moscow International Film Festival. Now in its third year, the event saw 250 co-production match-making meetings compared to 100 in 2010. While film was a major focus, also on the agenda were genres like factual. For example, Jacques Perrin of Galatee Films France (whose recent productions include Winged Migration and Oceans) attended the event to “establish a network of contacts that will enable us to get acquainted better with nature and the environment of North Russia… Russia is a friendly territory”. Moscow Business Square CEO Konstantin Nafikov added: “This year the number of participants from Russia and abroad grew by 79% (foreign arrivals rose from 119 to 239). We do our best to facilitate the entry of foreign companies to Russia and to help Russian companies develop the right contact network.”
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Focus on russia Having fun with formats Russians have always held great affection for scripted drama and comedies. But echoing recent trends around the world, Russian audiences have found it impossible to resist the appeal of entertainment, reality and lifestyle formats. Andy Fry reports Russia’s Got Talent, a FremantleMedia format produced by Red Square
NON-SCRIPTED formats started appearing in Russian schedules during the 1990s. But they really built momentum in the middle of the last decade as Russia’s fast-growing economy started to spawn competition between networks. A key beneficiary of this has been FremantleMedia, whose sales director in Russia, Anne Kirsipuu, says: “Russia has developed a very strong appetite for big, glossy musical shows and these programmes have been as successful for FremantleMedia in Russia as they have been around the world. This year Russian viewers are enjoying Got Talent, X Factor, Let’s Dance and Family Feud, which has been on air in Russia for 17 seasons.” According to Kirsipuu, FremantleMedia has licenced a number of formats to Russia in the last five years. Among these are Got Talent and Hole In The Wall (Channel One), Let’s Dance (Rossiya) and Project Runway on MTV. CTC, Ren TV and TVC have also picked 26 I
up FremantleMedia formats in the same time period. Marina Williams, head of Endemol’s operations in Central and Eastern Europe, has seen a similar surge: “When I joined Endemol in 2008 we only had local versions of Deal Or No Deal, 1 vs 100 and Operacion Triunfo with networks. But since then our nonscripted business has grown rapidly. Wipeout and Money Drop have become huge hits on leading channels.” The main reason for that growth is increased demand, which has been fuelled by the rampant growth in the advertising economy, Williams says. “When I joined we were working with two or three networks — now it’s more like 11, ranging from the public channels through to most commercial broadcasters.” Tapping into that demand led to a significant commitment on Endemol’s part. “We acquired a leading production house called WeiT Media and that has made a big difference for us in terms of
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Focus on russia our volume of non-scripted (and scripted) shows.” Endemol’s decision to acquire WeiT was about trying to take on powerful and well-connected Russian production houses like RWS, Star Media and Red Square. Red Square, closely affiliated to public broadcaster Channel One, makes shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and Survivor for the channel. To compete effectively with outfits like this “you need access to local talent which understands the Russian market, knows the audience and has the contacts to succeed”, says Williams. For Endemol, the key to the WeiT deal was company principal Timur Weinstein who made more than 30 primetime shows for networks including Russia1, TNT, NTV and Ren TV while working at Lean-M (his previous firm). Endorsing Williams’ view, he says the beauty of the partnership is it combines “Endemol’s global scale, expertise and resources with our experience in the Russian market. For WeiT Media, it presents a new level of opportunity to WeiT and strongly positions us for growth.” A good example of the difference local expertise can make is Money Drop, Williams says. “Russia was the first territory outside the UK to pick up the format and I think there was some scepticism about the show at the time. But WeiT played a key role in bringing a high profile presenter on board (Maxim Galkin, bestknown to Russians as host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? on Channel One). Maxim’s endorsement really boosted the show
which is now going into its third season on Rossiya Channel with a primetime Saturday night slot.” Endemol wasn’t the first to see indie acquisition as a way to establish itself (SPT bought Lean-M in 2006), nor was it the last. In 2010, John De Mol’s Talpa Media acquired a stake in Russian producer Mir Reality — with De Mol explaining that: “Next to the fact that Russia is the biggest country in the world, it’s also Europe’s fastest growing media market.” As with Endemol/WeiT, the aim of the deal is to use Mir to produce local versions of Talpa formats. And again it hinged on the fact that company chiefs Vladimir Utin and Simon Tucker had already brought Dragon’s Den, Beauty And The Geek and Top Gear. “For us, the stake in Mir is a great way to establish a partnership with a producer that has already proved how to adapt formats to the Russian taste,” De Mol says. Zodiak Media Group has no less than three subsidiaries in Russia, according to Naomi Koh, Zodiak’s vice-president of sales: “Telealliance and Dixi, focusing on scripted programming, were acquired by Zodiak AB in 2004 while Mastiff Russia was founded in 2010 to exploit Zodiak’s entertainment catalogue.” At one level, Koh says breaking into Russia is no different to any other market. “Like all markets it takes patience, hard work, research, good programmes and a little bit of luck. There are cultural differences but these exist in every country — and it’s the
Channel One’s Money Drop Russia — a “huge hit”
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Beauty And The Geek , first aired on Ren TV in 2005 vice-president’s job to understand tastes, trends, restrictions, bu139_STUDIYA_SP RUSSIA_COM__ 13/09/11 18:50 Page1 reaucracy and budget limits in each territory.” That said, Koh echoes Williams when she says: “Having a Russian
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production office helps us because we can regularly meet with, and pitch to, all the broadcasters.” In the same way that Endemol tapped Weinstein, Zodiak hired Anton Goreslavsky (formerly of Red Square) to run the business. “Anton Goreslavsky is a highly-experienced producer who previously worked on big entertainment shows as Wipeout and Survivor and his reputation in the industry is very good.” So good that Mastiff’s slate has expanded beyond recognition; while drama and comedy are also important parts of Zodiak’s business. “Mastiff has produced formats from the Zodiak catalogue for CTC (That’s My Kid), MTV (Shopaholics), Muz TV (Shafted) and Discover y TLC (Like Mother, Like Daughter) — and there are four new commissions in the pipeline with three different broadcasters which I cannot announce officially yet,” says Koh This batch of shows is interesting, because it illustrates the way in which Russia is now moving beyond traditional gameshows and entertainment formats into lifestyle and reality. “Russia isn’t like the Ukraine where all our formats, both studio based and factual entertainment, sell extremely well,” says Koh. “But the smaller channels are willing to take risks. I am hoping that a few successes on these second tier channels will encourage the big terrestrials to do the same.” Zodiak isn’t the only company starting to sell reality/lifestyle to smaller channels. Endemol, for example, secured a deal on Snog. Marry. Avoid with music/youth channel Muz-TV. Muz-TV is an
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Focus on russia interesting case study, because it’s a sign of how the expansion of the Russian economy is opening up new opportunities for foreign producers. Muz has also greenlit Pretty Smart, a Talpa format in which blonde women attempt to answer erudite questions such as Who Is The Dalai Lama? while men decide if they’ll respond correctly. This year, Muz also revived Next Top Model, the hit CBS format which had previously aired on CTC. This is another interesting development in Russia — with MTV Russia reviving Beauty And The Geek, which first aired in 2005 on Ren TV. The sense that 2010/2011 is a good time to be doing business in Russia is confirmed by Daniela Matei, CEO Nordics, Central Eastern Europe & Balkans, FremantleMedia, who says: “Over the past year, we have significantly increased the number of FremantleMedia shows on air in Russia. This MIPCOM we will launch a diverse slate of fresh formats, both in the scripted and entertainment genres, which will strengthen our presence.” With the emergence of lifestyle and reality in Russia, there are signs that the distribution market is also beginning to benefit. MTV Russia, for example, has picked up recent series of American Idol for its schedule from FremantleMedia Enterprises, while Muz acquired Passion’s Pretty Hurts. Target Distribution, meanwhile, sold another makeover series Ten Years Younger to TLC Russia. The big question, of course, is whether formats can start going the other way. “It certainly happens in the CIS and Central Asia,” says Endemol’s Williams. “Ukrainian audiences enjoy Russian content and we recently signed a deal to supply Kazakhstan’s Channel 7
with 25% of its schedule. As we build up our local production in Russia then we might start to see more Russian content reversioned for that market. Maybe later we can see Russian ideas make their mark in other regions.”
BIG IN RUSSIA: FORMAT DEALS l Channel One enjoys success with The Biggest Game Show In The World, a revamp of French producer Mistral’s Intercities format. UK audiences would know it as It’s A Knockout l TV3 recently renewed Endemol’s The Marriage Ref for a second season, after the
show’s debut rated well in 2010
l Rossiya picked up 5 Against The Quizmaster from Fremantle Media. Originally aired
on RTL in Germany, Russia was the first market to pick up the format. Maxim Galkin hosted
l CTC airs Galileo, which is made by Zodiak subsidiary Telealliance for format owner SevenOne International l TNT airs a local version of the Shine format Identity, which has been on air in Russia
for a respectable 10 seasons
l TLC, the Discovery-owned lifestyle channel, is investing in local content as part of its
global expansion, says Luis Silberwasser, chief content office at Discovery Networks International: “Our major project so far is Daughters vs. Mothers, a makeover show about mothers and daughters at war over their wardrobes … made for us by Mastiff Russia”
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Focus on russia Everybody loves a good script The Russian market for scripted content is booming. Fuelled by increased competition between networks, the period since 2006 has seen a surge in both original content and format adaptations. Andy Fry reports
Everybody Loves Raymond, adapted for Russia as The Voronins RUSSIAN audiences have a thirst for comedies, telenovelas and crime series. But there is also growth in high-quality historical dramas based on classic Russian characters or subjects. One big beneficiary of this trend is Sony Pictures Television (SPT), which made a dramatic entry into Russia in 2006 when it acquired Lean-M Productions. “At the time, Lean-M was working on one to two series a year,” says SPT’s Maria Mamedova. “Today, the figure is more like 10 to 15.” A big part of that growth has been fuelled by local adaptations of SPT’s sitcom catalogue — notably The Nanny, Everybody Loves Raymond (both for CTC) and Married With Children (for TNT, where it is called Happy Together). “These have been very successful because they offer 30 I
broadcasters a strong structure and good scripts, but also the flexibility to adapt them for the Russian market. For example, we made 40 episodes of The Nanny which weren’t original US scripts. Married With Children has about 350 episodes in Russia compared with 250 episodes in the original US version.” SPT isn’t the only company to have found favour with its sitcoms. Around the same time that it acquired Lean-M, Warner Bros. International Television struck a raft of deals for comedy series like Suddenly Susan, Step By Step, Full House (all for CTC) and Perfect Strangers (produced by Amedia for Ren TV). Twentieth Century Fox went a similar way, working with Amedia on a Russian version of The Golden Girls before going on to sell How I Met Your Mother to CTC last year.
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Focus on russia The Brits have also got in on the act, says Steve Macallister, BBC Worldwide managing director of global TV sales. “The big example for us is The Office which was remade by Channel One.” More recently, Fremantle Media Enterprises (FME) has done a format deal for The IT Crowd with producer Star Media. While format adaptations provide broadcasters with some quality reassurance, SPT’s Mamedova says there’s growing demand for wholly original comedy too. “We are making a series called Disco. It is told from the point of view of a man who is looking back at his teenage years in 1980s Russia. So it is a story about growing up with a nostalgic twist.” Alongside comedy, Mamedova confirms that there continues to be strong demand for crime and action series. “Through Lean-M, we have produced two series of Platina for NTV, about an ex-soldier who takes on urban lowlife.” Based on a trilogy of books by Alexander Bushkov, Platina attracted a 39% share of the male audience for broadcaster NTV. As with comedy, the crime genre has seen some major format adaptations — notable examples being NBC’s Law And Order (produced by 2V Studios for NTV) and Fox’s Prison Break (remade for Channel One under the name Pobeg). Law And Order was something of a breakthrough, being the first US primetime drama series to be remade for a local audience. But in the crime/action genre, local producers still tend to have the upper hand. Star Media, a case in point, recently produced Demons, a 16-part crime drama which attracted a lot of attention at the 2011 Monte Carlo Television Festival. Demons, which tells the story of a mafia boss trying to come to terms with the end of the 1990s aired on NTV. Star Media’s recent slate also includes The District Police Officer, a new crime series for NTV, while rival producer RWS has just made an off-beat production for Channel One called Women’s Dreams Of Neverland. A 12-part primetime series, this one tells the story of a young financial expert, who becomes a fugitive when he is suspected of stealing his boss’s money. Important to note is that US and Western European companies aren’t the only ones to have made their mark with formats. When not watching sitcoms or crime series, Russian audiences are big fans of long-running light-hearted drama, which has made Russia a key market for Latin American telenovelas. CTC’s success with Colombian format Ugly Betty is a famous example and the company, which has its own internal production arm, recently greenlit a local version of Telefe’s Los Exitosos Pells (to be renamed as Novosti). RWS, another key player in the telenovela space, has worked with most of the top LatAm producers, examples being Detective Brothers (a Telefe format adapted for Rossiya Channel) and Stray Angel (TV Azteca for Channel One). 2V is also busy in this space producing a local version of Telefe’s Tiempo Final for REN TV under the local title of Poslednyaya Minuta. CTC also had a hit with Traffic Light, a comedy series from Keshet in Israel. Like the LatAm producers, Israelis have a good sense of what works in Russia, with producers Armoza and Dori Media also finding success. Dori CEO Nadav Palti says his company has been active in Russia for 10 years and it has never been busier. “Israelis like telenovelas that have been adapted for their local market and so do Russians. The big shift in the last three to four years is that Russian audiences want telenovelas with Russian actors, Russian stories and Russian backdrops. We understand that trend, and also benefit from the fact that there’s a big population of Russians in Israel.” Dori trades in both Latin American and Israeli formats. “September 2008, Russians were buying everything. Then the crisis hit and they
stopped picking up the phone. In 2010 they came back. Now we have projects running with all kinds of networks. One of the most interesting is for a telenovela called Cupid which TV3 acquired on the basis of the script alone.” Cupid is being made by Endemol-owned producer WeiT which is also making local versions of two of Dori’s teen shows Split and Diggers. “This is the first time either series has been sold as a format, which underlines the growing importance of Russia as a market,” says Palti. “For us, the real beauty of the Russian market is that they go on and produce their own episodes if they like a show. We sold a 150-episode telenovela called LaLola to CTC and they ended up making 280 episodes.” Split, a teen vampire series being made for Muz-TV, is a relatively new concept for Russia, adds WeiT supremo Timur Weinstein, but he’s optimistic it can start a trend towards local teen production: “We believe the adapted versions of Split and Diggers will help launch a local tradition of producing content for teen audiences. Mystic TV series are still at an experimental stage in the Russian and CIS TV market. But I think they have the potential to become a fresh TV trend.”
GROWING DEMAND THE REVIVVAL of the advertising market in Russia is driving demand for programming. Says BBC Worldwide’s Steve Macallister: “We only ever used to have success selling natural history and history to Russia but the rising market means more channels are looking for content.” Macallister believes the sale of BBC drama series Sherlock to Channel One was a significant development “because I think it opens the door for British content”. No less significant is the news, on the eve of MIPCOM, that broadcaster 2x2 has acquired a 60hour comedy package including Come Fly With Me, Friday Night Dinner and Misfits. Initially based around adult animation, it’s only 2 years since 2x2 started showing any live-action. Disney is also benefiting from the emergence of both a secondary TV market for its shows and the opening up of non-traditional platforms. At the more innovative end of Disney’s deal-making was a 2010 pact which saw Disney license a slate of 3D movies to Russian DTH platform NTV-Plus for use on a new channel called 3D by Panasonic. More recently, Disney licensed a raft of its TV and movie titles to telco MTS for distribution via its online portal Omlet.ru.
BBC Worldwide’s Steve Macallister
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Focus on russia True stories of Biblical proportions Russia’s rich history is a gift for documentary filmmakers. And as Andy Fry discovers the country is a significant player in the international market for factual programming
Beasts Of The Bible (Buzz Taxi)
IT DOESN’T take an academic to realise that Russia has a rich variety of stories for documentary-makers to tell. From the Napoleonic era via the Cold War right through to the crisis in the Caucasus, the range of topics is virtually unparalleled. At the same time, Russia is a vast and diverse nation that has proven to be a popular subject for natural history filmmakers since the collapse of the Soviet Union made access easier. For the most part, the international telling — and selling — of Russia’s stories has been handled by global players like the BBC (via its four-part series Russia), National Geographic (via coproduction Wild Russia) and ZDF Enterprises (Russian Rivers). 32 I
But for those in search of on-the-ground insights then it’s imperative not to overlook what’s on offer from public broadcaster RTR, whose home-grown documentary content is marketed by the broadcaster’s distribution arm Sovteleexport. “We’ve been coming to Cannes for ten years,” says Sovteleexport director Julia Matiash, “during which time we have built strong relationships with partners in the CIS and major European markets like France and Germany. Recently we have also done important deals with CCTV China and Discovery Enterprises International (DEI), which acquired some of our content for its own channels and for distribution.”
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Focus on russia RTR, the organisation behind Rossiya Channel among others, is strong on historical content — examples being a new documentar y about W W2 Soviet Commander Marshall Zhukov; and another called A laska, The Big Deal, which explores the stor y of how Russia sold A laska to the US. “But we also have a range of films which explore contemporar y Russia,” Matiash says. At MIPDOC 2011, for example, RTR screened Kursk, 10 Years Later. about the tragic submarine accident; and Moscow Metro, a film about the construction of the Russian capital’s metro train system. Further underlining the company’s range, it also showcased The Secrets Of The Berlin Wall and The Great Operas: La Scala. If there’s one thing lacking in Russia right now it’s HD content. But for Matiash, the fact that DEI was willing to take on so many of its titles was proof that Russian filmmaking can meet international
standards. Under the seven-year agreement, DEI became exclusive worldwide distributor of 125 hours of content featuring topics such as The Cold War; World Wars I and II; modern and ancient history; space; culture; and civilisation. Nicholas Bonard, senior vice-president at Discovery Enterprises International, endorses Matiash’s comments: “This is a really exciting collection which hasn’t been utilised outside Russia. These are high-quality stories with footage which shows stories from the 20th century from an entirely new perspective.” T he period since M IP T V 2011 has seen Discover y and RT R tidy up the films for distribution and prepare English-language versions. “We’re back at MIPCOM to sell them,” says Bonard, “but we’ve already had robust interest from third parties and our ow n net work s.” For example, DEI is licensi ng 4 0 hours to Discover y ’s M ilitar y Channel i n the US. With 57 mi llion
Split Estate, sold to Russia Today by Janson Media
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Focus on russia cable homes in the world’s toughest T V market, that’s a coup for RTR and a real endorsement of the qualit y of the output. Bonard says signing up the shows was a significant investment. But he doesn’t rule out going back for more: “Let’s deal with these films first, but after that there’s a lot more unique Russian content which could interest buyers.” Perhaps not sur prisingly given the centralised nature of the 2 0th centur y Sov iet apparatus, the public broadcasting sec tor still dominates the documentar y genre in Russia. But RTR and Sov teleexport are not the only ones raising Russia’s pro file abroad. In recent years, publicly backed English-language news channel Russia Today has prov ided international audienc es w ith an alter native v iew of world a f fai rs to the l i kes of C N N and the BBC. T h is sum mer, it went a stage f ur ther by launching RT Doc, a 24/7 channel featuring documentaries about Russia. Explaining the rationale for the new English-language network, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said: “Cable operators welcome documentary content because it is invariably popular with their audiences. We’re launching a new documentary channel about Russia to give viewers this alternative.” Available in territories like the US and Germany (and also online), Simonyan says the RTDoc channel features series on Russian cities (Discovering Russia), customs and traditions (Faces Of Russia), science & technology (Technology Update) and the environment (Meeting with Nature). Historical Faces explores the history of Russia while Culture Fair will broadcast films on culture, art and fashion. Providing an educational component is A Little Bit of Russian, which helps English speaking viewers learn the basics of the Russian language. The export of high-end documentary content is limited outside this. But one interesting deal worth noting is the sale of docudrama Soviet Storm: WW2 In The East by Star Media to History Channel in the UK. Again, the implication is that the outside world is starting to get interested in a Russian perspective on events that have been shrouded in secrecy. While RTR and RTDoc are focused on exporting Russian content, there is an opportunity for distributors to sell quality factual programming into the market. Public channel Chanel K, also known as TV Kultura, is a regular attendee at markets like MIPTV and MIPCOM in the shape of documentary chief Susanna Zingerman and head of international Irina Varvinskaya. While K also airs fiction, key factual pick ups include Prehistoric Park from FME; Secrets In The Dust from ZDF Enterprises; HD special Beasts Of The Bible from Buzz Taxi; and a slate of shows from Amsterdam’s Off the Fence, including Man Made Marvel: China’s Forgotten City & Man Made Marvel: Giant Buddha). Not shy of making substantial acquisitions, MIPCOM 2010 saw Kultura pick up 84 hours of programming from BBC Worldwide, including titles such as History Of Science, Wonders Of The Solar System, Lennon Naked and Muddle Earth. On the eve of MIPCOM 2011, Heike Renner, BBC Worldwide’s territory manager, Central & Eastern Europe, told MIPCOM Daily News that Kultura had come back for another 60 hours including Extraordinary Women and Human Planet. This is the first time Human Planet has been sold to a terrestrial in Russia. DEI’s Bonard is excited about the future of factual in Russia.
“Aside from the partnership with RTR there’s our channel business in Russia. And the arrival of DTT is going to expand the options in terms of distribution. What we need to work towards next is finding ways for Russia to become more integrated in the factual co-production business.” In recent years, the expansion of Russian PayT V has opened up numerous opportunities for factual distributors. Modern Ti mes G roup r u ns Via sat H istor y a nd Via sat E x plorer i n Rus sia wh i le Red Med ia G roup ha s a clu ster of thematic channels that need factual content. 20 07 also saw the launch of First H DT V Net work, a family of H D channels that covers a range of genres. Beneficiaries include Target, Cinef li x and Janson Media, which sold the documentar y Great North to First HDT V’s Travel HD channel. Previously, Janson sold more tha n 10 0 hou r s of c ontent to Red Med ia , i nclud i ng Discoveries A merica (51 x 60 mins). Not to be overlooked of course is Discovery, whose CEO David Zaslav has made expansion in Russia a priority (Discover y, Animal Planet and TLC channels are now all in the market). In early 2011, Discovery Channel Russia introduced a science education block called Crazy Break, running short films from Beyond Productions, the company behind Discovery’s hit science series Mythbusters. It is also investing in localising the sound of its shows. Russian personalities have been signed up to bring their voices to Discovery franchises and specials, including former heav y weight champion boxer Nikolai Valuev, who worked with Discovery Channel last year and is set to voice more shows in 2011; Ivan Zatevakhin, one of Russia’s renowned natural historians and TV presenters voiced the channel’s Extreme Fishing season; and conservationist Nikolay Drozdov voices Wildest Africa for Animal Planet in Russia. Zaslav says: “The addition of more local productions and talent, coupled with science education programming, and the launch of TLC, all represent the beginning of an expanded commitment in Russia. We’re focused on investing in Russia and we’ll be using our new Moscow hub to ensure we’re developing services and the best content for our audience.”
DESTINATION KRASNOGORSK PART of the excitement of Russia for factual filmmakers is that it has been so secret for so long. But now a major online archive project is providing some amazing historic insights. The story starts with the Russian State Documentary Film And Photo Archive in Krasnogorsk. Containing more than 42,000 films, the earliest footage at Krasnogorsk features the 1896 coronation of Czar Nicholas II and runs through until 1985. With footage from the October Revolution; both World Wars; the Soviet invasions of Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Afghanistan; the Cold War; the space race; and other significant moments in Russian history, it is a collection of immense historic value. In the late 1980s, work began on protecting the archive — and more recently it has been moving online via a project called Russian Archives Online (RAO). RAO is run by Archive Media Project (AMP), a joint venture of US-based company Abamedia and the Russian non-profit Film and Computer World (KIKOM). It allows producers to licence footage for their own films. Abamedia is run by US filmmakers who have built up their own portfolio of Russian-themed films including titles like Red Files, Yanks For Stalin and Soviet Sports Wars.
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Focus on russia Who needs Google and Facebook? Next time you’re in Moscow, you might be tempted to Google for ideas about where to go and what to see. But then again you might have more success if you Yandex instead. Equally, asks Andy Fry, why bother logging on to Facebook to make Russian friends when you’re far more likely to meet new people on VKontakte? THE FACT that the internet is global doesn’t change the fact that people will always interact at a local level via services tailored to their needs. Echoing the situation in China, where Baidu is the number one search engine, Russia’s Yandex has a massive 38 million unique users and currently handles 65% of all search requests in Russia. VKontakte, meanwhile, was attracting 23 million visitors a day by spring this year. Both companies are indicators of how fast digital media is growing in Russia. By the end of 2010, 30% of Russian homes had broadband — around 15-16 million. While that is on the low side when compared to the US and Western Europe, Russian minister of communications Igor Shchegolev expects broadband internet access will be used by 60-80% of Russian households within five years and by 90-95% by 2020. Prospects for mobile also look good, with an estimated six million people already surfing the internet with a 3G phone. For content owners, there are two obvious implications here. The first is that programme promotion via Google and Facebook is of relatively limited value in Russia. The second is that a new tier of telco distribution partners is emerging. Telco MTS, for example, has an online portal called Omlet.ru, which this year licensed film and TV content from Hollywood power players like Disney, Universal, Warner Bros. and Sony. No figures were released on the value of the deal, but in some ways this is less significant than the fact that Russia now offers consumers a legitimate way of accessing content. With IP piracy still a concern in Russia, this point is addressed by Inna Shalyto, MTS’ director for innovative product development, who says: “We see the signing of these new contracts with rights holders as another step towards the creation of a civilised digital content market in Russia.” Commercial broadcaster CTC has also recognised the importance of going digital. At the start of 2011, it launched social TV network Videomore which now claims 10 million users. According to CTC, the Videomore portal “combines the functionality of a video streaming portal with the interactivity of a social network” and was launched “to capture the steep growth in the Russian internet advertising market, which is forecasted to be worth more than $200m in 2015”. In simple terms, Videomore provides free access to content from CTC’s three Russian channels — CTC, Domashny and DTV — including third-party content. Viacheslav Sinadski, CTC Media’s chief strategy 36 I
DIGITAL DISTRIBUTION THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS company Vimpelcom operates IPTV service Beeline which now has more than 100,000 subscribers. Among its more eye-catching deals this year saw Vimpelcom sign a contract to secure on-demand content from Warner Bros. Wireless broadband company Yota has acquired 2,000 hours of BBC Worldwide content for its VOD platform Yota Play. Another digital portal IVI picked up 200 hours from BBC Worldwide. And BBC Worldwide has a content deal with NOW.ru, TNT’s VoD platform, for shows like Dr Who, Sherlock and Mistresses. Sherlock (BBC Worldwide)
officer, says: “It has become a popular resource, with traffic growing faster than expected. We now have 100,000 viewers daily, making it attractive for advertisers. We started selling advertising space in May.” The emergence of Videomore is strategically significant for rights holders. A potential downside, for example, is that CTC’s move to crossplatform distribution will restrict the ability of distributors to make deals with other digital platforms. But the upside is that CTC is using Videomore to tackle piracy. In June, it launched a joint campaign with VKontakte to combat illegal content on the site and promote the availability of legally-distributed content via Videomore. Explaining this development, Askar Tuganbaev, CTC Media’s internet project development director, says the company has special software that flags pirated content and automatically replaces it with a licensed product. “Our campaign started with VKontakte as it is the biggest social network used by our audience. We started with the replacement of popular content, such as Boarding School, and during this period, viewership of this show on Videomore increased by 50%, peaking at 200,000 views-per-day. Based on the success of our co-operation with VKontakte, we plan to continue this with other popular social networks.”
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