The industry publication Telesputnik and TelecomDaily resource held an online conference on April 23 called “OTT-attraction: reboot factors on the online video market”. Representatives of NTV-PLUS and Gazprom-Media Sales House took part in the conference’s discussion panels. The main topic of discussion was the change expected on the OTT-platform market given the sharp rise in the consumption of content online.
The director of NTV-PLUS’s digital products department, Konstantin Smirnov, took part in the first session, “Who wants to be a millionaire: what will happen to the online video market in Russia”. He noted that online cinemas and legal content aggregators now have the opportunity to direct resources to improve the functionality of their services, to make their interface more user-friendly.
Speaking about the development trends of the online market for legal video content, Konstantin Smirnov stressed that this market will continue to grow alongside the growth of content consumption online.
The second part of the online conference focused on how temporary free access to content affects the business of online video services. The head of Gazprom-Media Sales House’s development and monetisation of online projects department, Dmitry Pashutin, spoke at the session. He noted that the “current situation is short-term and will change drastically in the future - in terms of consumption, as well as monetisation”. At the same time, he stressed how important it is for both television channels and online outlets to maintain their activity level during this period.
He also reminded fellow conference participants that a similar situation has emerged on the television market: despite the large amount of content available, television channels are not curbing their enthusiasm for creating content.
According to Dmitry Pashutin, the future of online media players will depend on whether they are able to convert those who now use online video platforms for free into paying subscribers, and to attract the attention of viewers in an increasingly competitive video market.