TV Dead? Long Live TV!

START runs a number of own TV channels. We interviewed Gulnara Kitanova, TV Channels Department Head, on developing these channels, promoting them, and more.

Who watches TV these days? Have people indeed turned away from it and chose online content instead? Or are most of them still watching TV?

There is no single answer to this question. Of course, linear viewing still exists and will continue to be a thing for a while. It’s like that one quote about theater in Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears; the character there claimed that TV would overtake everything. Today, people say that online services and VoD are destined to rule all and that TV is on its last legs. In reality, however, the numbers indicate the opposite. The TV viewing numbers are steady, but its audience has become skewed. It is becoming older, but not drastically declining.

TV viewing is influenced by a variety of factors. A big one is the state of the world. For instance, there is a sharp spike in the viewing numbers of federal and news-themed TV channels when significant global events occur; entertainment services can’t offer that information. Additionally, people over 60 hardly use Telegram or other social media, and their only source of news is linear television. Naturally, this positively impacts the ratings of federal TV channels, which air frequent newscasts and maintain a current news agenda. This is important for viewers because we are now going through rather troubled times.

The withdrawal of many channels is another major development in this regard. The majors, including Discovery, Viacom, Fox, and National Geographic — a total of 20 channels that made up 10% of the pay TV segment — abandoned the Russian market. Naturally, this has also had an impact on pay TV viewing. Viewership naturally declines when the majors — TV networks synonymous with pay TV — depart. However, new TV channels were introduced at the same time. New TV channels have been launched by Russian content producers, including us, gradually taking over from the channels that exit the market. My conclusion is thus clear: people do watch TV and will continue to do so, but both the content and the core audience of viewers are changing.

What kinds of TV channels are there, and how are they different from one another (technology-wise, pay vs. non-pay, federal vs. cable, etc.)? What is the current makeup of the TV channel market?

There are federal TV channels, and there are cable TV channels. There is also a law requiring any platform, cable operator, or audiovisual service to broadcast federal TV channels. Two multiplexes, specifically created for federal channels, exist (a multiplex is a set of all-Russian mandatory public TV channels and digital TV radio channels, with costs for broadcasting them covered by the federal budget). They broadcast over the entirety of Russia. Every operator must provide 21 TV channels at no cost to the viewer.

The pay cable channels make up the second pool of available channels. Distribution of these across Russia is not required. The way the industry is set up, TV channel producers like us must reach an agreement with operators in order for their subscribers to watch our channels.

How competitive is this market? How many channels are licensed to broadcast in the Russian Federation? Is there a resource or organization that keeps track of this information?

Roskomnadzor is responsible for issuing broadcasting licenses. Typically, these are universal licenses. A TV channel needs to register a media outlet and obtain this license in order to begin broadcasting. Roskomnadzor keeps an eye on everything, including the broadcasting policy, ensuring that the broadcast schedule matches the age of the audience, preventing legal infractions, making sure that the content does not violate any laws, and so forth.

About 500 cable TV channels with licenses that were launching somewhere existed the last time I looked. For instance, there might be ten local TV stations from a certain region on the list, but we will never get to know about them. And if we count all regional capitals, that’s 100 channels already. So, there are a plethora of channels. I hail from Tatarstan, there are five or six of these regional TV networks in this region.

There are two gauges that help determine the general picture of who watches what TV channels. Mediascope is a unified meter widely accepted and used by the entire market to make ratings and sell advertising. Mediascope runs two projects: TV Index and TV Index+. The former gauges federal TV channels, and the latter is for pay TV channels.

MediaHills is the second tool. The concept of metering the viewership of TV channels and platforms watched online began to take shape about ten years ago. MediaHills monitors live viewing. It is all OTT only, limited to online viewing, but one can use it to check how many people came to the show and left on a given day. It’s great nonetheless, as you can handle your schedule using MediaHills data, and there’s a ton of data available.

What can you do to let viewers know about yourself, get on their radar, and invite them to tune in?

I have a strong opinion here. Working with operators is, in my opinion, the only way for cable pay TV channels to reach viewers. No amount of advertising, whether it be outdoor or otherwise, can draw viewers to a TV channel. The only way to go is through collaborative events, joint campaigns with operators, and operator interface. Let me elaborate. Let’s say, you see an outdoor ad for TNT; you get home, turn it on, and watch it. You know it’s somewhere within the first 20 channels on any list, and it’s no hassle to get to it. Now, if you were to see an ad for the START Air channel, you would have to ask, where is it? When you get home, if your provider is Rostelecom, you can find it in the 200s movie channels; but if it is, say, Beeline, then it’ll have a different number and come in a different package. That’s where things become complicated. Establishing a rapport with operators is the main goal of all our marketing initiatives. Say, you can get your TV channel on the featured list, like we did at Kinopoisk. When we introduced a show called Kingfisher, our “Watch Kingfisher on START Air” poster appeared on the Kinopoisk homepage upon launch. In other words, any viewer or subscriber who used Kinopoisk saw it, so we were able to reach lots of viewers, and the conversion rate was great. Wink also runs a featured list. We also make use of the homepage and notifications in our promotional campaigns on the START platform. One such example would be, “This or that show is premiering on such and such TV channel; come watch it.” I firmly believe that this is the only cost- and effort-efficient method for reaching viewers.

Are there any devoted viewers of pay TV channels these days? Is it possible for MediaScope to determine the proportion of viewers who frequent the channel due to its overall content focus rather than a particular title?

Metrics cannot reveal whether you are being watched by the same person every day or not. We reach over 600,000 subscribers on average each day, according to MediaHills. However, no one can tell if these are new or returning viewers. To date, no platform offers this kind of in-depth analytics. Then there’s viewing duration; it affects share. This indicator is what concerns me the most since it shows you how much viewer demand there is for the content on your channel. Of course, it is possible that a staggering 10 million people tune in to a channel, but for a mere 20 seconds; now, if 3 million people stay on a channel for two hours, that indicates that it is engaging and in demand. All TV channels are vying for that particular metric.

Is it crucial that the channel is actually viewed and not just running in the background?

During my stint at FOX, there was a channel called Nat Geo Wild. Regarding coverage, it didn’t have that many viewers. It is a wildlife channel with videos of fish swimming and elephants running, stunning to watch in HD, with at least 90 minutes of viewing. Of course, no one was really hooked on the elephants; people would simply turn it on to run in the background. It’s akin to a fish tank: it’s safe to watch and everyone finds it interesting. One could even watch it with the sound off.

The START Air original series, in contrast, suggest that one must follow the plot; they are not optimal for background viewing. Our channels focus on narrative and interest. For instance, you can’t turn on Female Mantis on START Air and go make yourself some tea — everything develops quickly, and you have to keep track of who says what to whom and does what to whom — that’s how the plot goes there.

There are many Turkish shows on START World, and Turks are very much into slow-burn shows where entire episodes can consist of people staring at each other for 20 minutes; those are suitable for background watching. As an example, consider Kingfisher, currently airing in reruns while maintaining the highest share on the channel. That’s what you turn on in the background. People on screen look at each other while you’re chopping salad.

What motivates people to watch our TV channels?

At START Air, premieres are the biggest drivers. They always make for good numbers, but that’s because they’re exclusives for pay TV channels. Over 80% of the content on START Air is exclusive. Any premiere is a viewership driver. Furthermore, we are developing a marketing plan around the premiere screenings. Reruns, however, can also work. Like, it’s always a good idea to put Two Hills on. There will be a high share anytime they are on air. Against All was a hit and is still a hit in reruns. We were able to draw in a younger audience with a set of youth-oriented shows. It did well in the summer despite being risky because it targets younger people than those who make up the traditional TV audience.

Our promotional campaigns typically begin two weeks in advance. Since we want the promo to be seen by all viewers who visit the channel at different times and stay for different amounts of time, we run premiere promos in every slot. Upon my arrival, my initial task was to optimize the promo plans and frequency of airing. This involved reducing the number of promos and concentrating solely on the premieres, while also airing them more to ensure that every viewer saw them when they tuned in.

Here’s another crucial point to remember. Federal TV stations have many timeshift versions. In Russia, there are eight time zones, but we broadcast the same stream across all of them. Let us say our premiere is at 9 p.m.; it is already late in the night throughout the rest of Russia. We must take this into consideration when we build our schedule and the frequency of promos and reruns throughout the day, broadcasting simultaneously to the entirety of Russia and equally to all time zones.

How many people are needed to build pay TV channels?

It depends on how many TV channels you run and whether there are purchases or not. It is quite a feat, in my opinion, that we are able to run two channels with such a small staff. Everyone’s the chief cook and bottle washer at the same time. Today, when I ask questions during interviews about the candidates’ previous channels, I find that comparable cable channels employ a lot more people.

Why is everything so well-optimized for us? First of all, this is a new direction, and it was not anticipated that our TV channels would grow and become so successful. Being a part of a big service allows us to be optimized. Naturally, the division of responsibilities and cross-functionality also aid in maintaining the team’s leanness by avoiding the need for a different person for each function. We receive assistance from the editorial and motion design teams within the START online cinema’s video service, as well as from the licensing team for purchases and licenses. While cross-functional roles aid in keeping the headcount down, the TV segment also enhances the competencies of those already employed by the service. As an illustration, the distribution team broadened its areas of expertise and started working with TV channels.

Secondly, Orion provides all technical support; they let us use their technical editor and handle all things related to the stream, satellite, and license.

Thirdly, there’s the matter of actual content. We don’t have to request materials, purchase content, etc. In-house productions serve as the foundation for our TV channel’s concept. This streamlines the procurement, sourcing, content shipping, and marketing material acquisition processes. Everything is done internally, and all the procedures are set up.

The core of all these cross-functions is a team that puts together the channel and communicates with everyone. The scheduling part of the team handles the grid, premiere arrangements, strategic planning, rights requests, and content screening; everything must adhere to our stringent legal requirements. Then there come promo production and marketing that involves operators.

Scheduling and promotions are two cornerstones. The growth of the company and the TV channel affects every other component.

Are our TV channels ready for the next phase of strategic planning?

I think they are. Generally speaking, a strategy is always required. Perhaps even a goal. See, the START World channel was going to be discontinued when I assumed leadership of the direction. However, I firmly believed that it had a future, and making it unique was the primary objective. We were able to revive it, relaunch it in a short amount of time, and demonstrate incredible audience growth: from August to October (a span of three months), the channel climbed 40 spots in the rankings of all pay TV channels, and its average daily reach increased from 150,000 to 580,000 viewers. Additionally, the monthly accumulated reach increased from 1.5 million to 4.5 million (Mediahills). That is an incredible outcome for just a few months’ worth of work.

I try to cancel all calls and meetings on Fridays every other week to take a breather and assess our current situation. I research the industry, review analytics, and hunt for fresh ideas for our channels. I make it a point to go to industry events because I find that talking with partners and colleagues in the market directly generates a lot of ideas.

How do operators split up the revenue among the TV channels? Is viewership the rule of thumb?

Everything is dependent on the size of the operator’s user base. There are operators with 100 subscribers and those with 5 million subscribers, each paying 200 rubles a month. The operator package costs are mostly determined by the user base. The subscriber base is a very easy-to-understand metric. The economic model is derived by computing the cost per subscriber (CPS) indicator and multiplying the result by the user base. CPS is based on a variety of elements, including viewer demand and exclusive content. Operators do, of course, also examine viewing patterns and subscriber popularity of channels.

There’s our platform, and occasionally there are advertisements for our TV channels on it. Were there any experiments in this area? For example, suggesting that the audience of our online movie theater point their parents at some show available on pay TV. Or would it be too complicated for a good idea?

It’s the other way around. We promote the START service on our channels. For example, as we speak, START Air is running a promo for the premiere of Lad’s Word on START. In other words, we are a tool for the service.

Movies on Record on a video service: what is this, and why do we need it on START?

The technology is called catch-up; it’s when you buy a TV channel on a platform with catch-up rights. For instance, viewers of our TV channels can watch content within three days of it airing on TV thanks to catch-up rights. April 2022 saw the start of our television broadcasting on the START service. There are currently over 200 channels accessible on the service. By emphasizing lineups with catch-up rights, we enhance the START content offering and drive TV viewing.

Let’s talk about the future of the TV industry. How will things change in the upcoming years, and will they change at all?

For the time being, I think our TV channels will keep growing. In fact, I believe that the number of TV channels produced in Russia will increase. It is too soon to discuss the majors’ return at this time. In large part due to the news agenda, I do not believe that TV viewing will decline. Furthermore, we have no idea what Zoomers will be doing in ten to fifteen years; perhaps they will return to watching TV. I believe that TV and digital media will have greater synergy. Today, FAST TV is growing rapidly in both Europe and the USA. It’s basically free YouTube clips collected on a single TV channel; commercials are added to the mix, of course, but if you, say, happen to love nature, then you’ll appreciate the nature-themed shows, picked from all over YouTube. I have a feeling that this idea will soon reach us and continue to grow. The power of content is something else I want to talk about in regard to TV channels. TV is one method we use to market and distribute our content. Consider the content production and release cycle: Two Hills debuted on the START service, followed by runs on the federal TNT TV channel and START Air, and it had top numbers across all three platforms. TV serves as a vehicle for the studio’s content distribution and viewer delivery. The content can be accessed via the START service, federal TV channels, online cinemas, and also via pay TV channels. We present infinitely rewatchable content, so the same viewers can be found across all of these environments. Reruns of the Serf movie garner more and more views each time it airs. You can enjoy watching content like that again and again with your entire family. Therefore, it’s moot to suggest that pay TV is going to disappear or that there will be some sort of audience withdrawal. It will only get bigger as long as there are people watching it, and there are lots. Going to see a movie in a theater or using a service costs money, and that brings another important factor into the picture. Here, tons of high-quality, interesting content come with even the most basic package, so why not watch it?