The number of self-photographed is growing – Newspaper Kommersant No. 37 (7482) dated 03/03/2023

In 2022, 89 films and TV series produced by online cinemas were released in Russia against 74 in 2021, according to TelecomDaily. In 2023, analysts are waiting for a new record: the main incentive to shoot more for services will be the need to retain users amid the loss of Western content. The growth of investments in production will force services to actively look for ways to recoup projects – according to experts, collaboration between services or with TV channels can help in this.

“Kommersant” got acquainted with the study of the TelecomDaily agency on the market for the production of their own content by online cinemas (the so-called originals). It follows from it that Russian online cinemas released 89 projects in 2022, which is 20% more than a year earlier (74 projects). The study took into account only TV shows made by ourselves (their credits do not include “made to order …”, etc.), as well as feature films where the online cinema acted as a producer.

As in 2021, Start is the leader in terms of the number of premieres in 2022, with 20 originals. Premier (18 projects) moved into second place, displacing Kion (16 projects) from it. The most recognizable tapes among Russians, according to a survey (it was attended by 1.8 thousand users of online cinemas), were the projects “Patient Zero” (“Kinopoisk”), the 4th season of “Major” (“Kinopoisk” and “Channel One ”), “Vampires of the Middle Band” (Start).

In 2023, according to TelecomDaily forecast, the number of original projects released will be 30% more than in 2022. “By the summer, the loss of licenses for Western content will become noticeable, and, consequently, the issue of keeping users in the subscription will become more acute,” says Denis Kuskov, head of the agency. Since last year, the supply of premieres in Russia has been stopped by Walt Disney, Warner Bros., Sony Pictures and others. The purchase of Korean and Turkish content does not allow attracting the same number of viewers, so services will have to invest more in originals, Denis Kuskov believes.

“We increased investments in originals in 2022 by 26%,” Start CEO Dmitry Gudumak told Kommersant. He considers original projects “the main tool of all platforms in the struggle for the viewer.” The number of original Premier projects, including custom-made ones, has grown from “less than ten” in 2021 to “more than thirty” in 2022, the service said. The main stimulus, they say, was the demand of viewers for Russian content – “it has grown dramatically during the pandemic and has persisted after the end of the lockdown.” Kinopoisk noted that, according to the Kinopoisk Pro Index, original projects of Russian services already account for a third of all interest in domestic series, including television (see Kommersant on February 17).

Kion plans to release more than 40 original projects in 2023, which is one and a half times more compared to 2022, the service said. Wink released ten original projects in 2021, and plans to double their number in 2023, says Anton Volodkin, director of the service. The increase in the number of original projects is not directly related to an attempt to replace Western ones, but “the situation itself stimulates the consumption of Russian content,” the top manager admits. Elvira Dmitrievskaya, Okko’s content director, says the service plans to “significantly increase the volume of original content,” without giving a number.

In 2023, online cinemas will be more willing to collaborate with TV channels when the original project is released first on television or simultaneously on TV and in the service, Denis Kuskov believes. Collaboration with TV channels implies “mutual benefits in the form of pooled audiences and marketing efforts,” Kion confirmed.

The platforms will interact more actively with each other in the context of production, Dmitry Gudumak believes. “We are discussing co-producing projects with other players, this makes it possible to pay for the project, especially in the mode of impossibility to sell content to global players in the volume that Start is used to,” he says.

Valeria Lebedeva