The International Sports Forum “Russia is a Sports Power” is being held in Ulyanovsk from October 10-12 under the patronage of the Russian president Vladimir Putin. More than 3,000 people are participants and guests of the event, including well-known athletes and heads of sports organizations. The forum traditionally focuses on the popularization of physical culture and sports in Russia.
The CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding, Dmitry Chernyshenko, took part in the plenary session titled "Physical culture and mass sport: A platform for coordinated action” on October 10, where he shared the stage with the Minister of Sport Pavel Kolobkov, deputy prime minister Olga Golodets and other government officials. The plenary session wrapped up with a speech by Russian president Vladimir Putin.
In his presentation, Dmitry Chernyshenko emphasized the important role of mass media in promoting sports:
“We remember very well the incredible phenomenon of the whole country uniting during the (Olympic) Games in Sochi and the football World Cup. There is always a spike in people taking up sports as a follow up to this interest in sports events. The president has set the goal of increasing the number of people who are involved in sports to 55%. This is a very large number. We will all need to work together, and the media will have to play an important role because it is such a big part of our lives. Our main goal is to make sport accessible everywhere and always, for all ages and in any media environment.”
Speaking about the state of the Russian sports media, Dmitry Chernyshenko noted that Russia is a world leader in creating sports media content:
“In our country, sport is very lucky. There is a federal sports channel on the third button of the remote, and it reaches everyone in our country. There are 13 special-interest sports channels, dozens of online resources, and mobile applications.”
According to Dmitry Chernyshenko, together sport and media gather audiences in the billions. The FIFA 2018 World Cup set records in terms of television viewing. The releases of new Russian films about sports also beat records at the box office. The movie Dvizhenie Vverkh (Going Vertical) is a good example of this.
“This is happening because a large number of people are putting resources and effort into promoting sports at the highest level,” said the CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding.
To conclude his presentation, Dmitry Chernyshenko announced that a new federal sports channel Match. Strana (Match. The Country) will launch on 1 March 2019. The TV channel will focus 100% of its broadcasts on news and sporting events held in Russia:
“With the help of our resources, we will take sport beyond the confines of hobbies and entertainment. Sport is becoming the driver of national development. By promoting sports in the media, we are solving the issues of national development in the interests of the whole country,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko.