NTV Russia celebrates 25 years of success
NTV, one of leading national TV channels in Russia, is turning 25 this month. To commemorate the anniversary, NTV is hosting a special event in Cannes during MIPCOM. Alexandra Shutova met in Moscow with the channel’s General Producer Timur Weinstein to talk about the success in recent years.
Since Mr. Weinstein’s arrival at NTV almost three years ago, the channel has significantly increased its original series’ lineup, invested in high-quality adaptations of scripted formats, and launched major social campaigns that have broken records both on TV and online. The success at home has resulted in growing international recognition as and Mr. Weinstein foresees a very bright future for NTV, both locally and globally.
Since Mr. Weinstein’s arrival at NTV almost three years ago, the channel has significantly increased its original series’ lineup, invested in high-quality adaptations of scripted formats, and launched major social campaigns that have broken records both on TV and online. The success at home has resulted in growing international recognition as and Mr. Weinstein foresees a very bright future for NTV, both locally and globally.
Timur Weinstein, General Producer, NTV
Mr. Weinstein, congratulations! This October NTV is turning 25! How will you celebrate this anniversary?
We want to talk about that during the MIPCOM and to show what NTV is about, since information about Russian TV in the international market is quite vague. When it comes to our audience, we will try to make this season strong and entertaining. We have prepared two major projects in celebration of the 25th anniversary.
The first is called Maltseva. The name of Natalia Maltseva has become associated with home, renovation, beauty and coziness. Next, the legendary news host Tatiana Mitkova, who stood at the origins of NTV, returns on air. She will interview extraordinary people that completely turned their lives around in the new project Incredible Life Story.
For its anniversary, NTV also launched an IAM25 campaign, which has already become a significant event on social networks. Celebrities and NTV hosts were the first to support it. They shared stories that happened when they were 25, posted videos with hashtags and engaged millions of people in the campaign.
You have been investing heavily in original and adapted drama productions over the past few years. What will this season be like?
The entire season has already been scheduled: we know exactly what will air in October, November and December. I am sure it will be very prominent for the audience. Everyone knows that when our team joined NTV in the end of 2015, the series shelf was empty. There was no library of content, nor did we have time for planning. During the last two years we had to work ‘fresh off the boat’, because nobody’s cancelled a 24/7 air. Now, however, the situation has changed – the series shelf started to fill up and we have an opportunity to plan the upcoming season ahead and more carefully.
We have franchises of projects that our team launched two years ago – new seasons of series Nevsky and Shepherd, which became true hits. Of course, we will also surprise the audience with great premieres. I would like to mention the series Brass Sun with Vladimir Mashkov. The project will definitely become the highlight of the TV season, and I hope it will be interesting to the global audience as well. It is based on a true story that happened during the collapse of the Soviet Union. The action takes place in a small town in one of the former Central Asian republics, where Russian military musicians had to protect the locals. Another series, The Crow (Vorona), is a tension-packed thriller about a hunt for a serial killer. Valery Todorovsky’s project features Elizaveta Boyarskaya and Anatoly Beliy as leads. Other premieres to look forward to this season are Dinosaur with Andrey Smirnov and Retribution with Pavel Priluchniy.
NTV also acquired the rights for the adaptation of Korean crime dramas - Defendant, Hidden Identity, and Stranger; all three are currently in development. We have recently completed the production of The Good Wife, an adaptation of the famous American series of the same name. Last spring, we aired our version of The Bridge (Bron/Broen) with Mikhail Porechenkov and Ingeborga Dapkunaite as leads. The second season of the project has been completed, and the audience will see it soon. Also, the adaptations of Jeopardy! and Child’s Play have been successfully airing on NTV for years.
Which of the new projects was the most challenging?
We are used to producing difficult projects, and for us there are no technical issues we can’t solve. But if I have to do it, I would name Brass Sun. Filming took place in Uzbekistan, in the city of Hiva. The sun, the heat, and the fact that this small place had never seen such a large-scale production before – all of it was challenging. Filming in locations with developed cinematography infrastructure is one thing, but filming in a museum town is completely different.
Are you looking to expand your ties with international partners, i.e. not only regarding acquisition of formats and distribution of series, but also co-productions? Has there been interest for your original formats?
When it comes to co-production, it has to be interesting to both our viewers and partners. Most of the time, there is a language barrier. Many companies want to film in English when they offer projects, but our audience likes original product. Negotiations are currently in progress with Germany and UK, but we still have to solve the language problem.
Can you share your plans for the upcoming MIPCOM and tell us about the international development overall?
The Russian market is not very popular outside the CIS. However, we clearly understand that TV is an international business and we’re doing everything possible to move in this direction. We have already taken the first steps, like the successful promotion of The Road to Calvary by Dori Media. The series has recently become featured on Netflix and is now available to 130 million subscribers in 190 countries. On top of that, negotiations are in progress to sell the series to dozens of other countries. For example, the Greek audience will see it this fall.
People need to see what Russian content is about, since it is not well represented or recognized in the international market space. It has not yet become trendy, but when we show our projects, our partners notice a very high production quality. Russia appeals to the international audience with its history and unique culture so we promote such series as The Road to Calvary and Aria of the Doomed.
What other achievements on the global market can you name?
Four projects have been purchased for distribution abroad besides the above-mentioned The Road to Calvary. These are Sleepers and Death Highway (Armoza Formats), and Aria of the Doomed (Global Agency). Banijay is distributing our Secret for a Million. We are discussing possible deals with other partners, and are opening the Chinese and Brazilian markets.
What audience do you currently target?
The key demo of NTV is all residents of Russia aged 18+. The channel is constantly in the Top 3 with almost 10% share, 58% of whom are women, and 42% - men. At the same time, NTV is the leader among the male audience with a 10.5% share. Same as all channels in the world, we are interested in attracting young viewers and we fearlessly engage in experiments.
For example, last fall, we aired our adaptation of Shameless, which improved the share of the time slot by 10% in All 18+, and by 42% in All 18-34. SuperYou! also contributed to the process of attracting young viewers. On top of that, the slate of NTV lifestyle projects is the leader in the 10-14 weekend timeslot for the 14-44 and 25-54 audience, surpassing even broadcasters that target younger viewers. This made NTV the only channel among the big three federal broadcasters that improved performance in 14-44.
We pay attention to current trends: fragmentation of viewership related to the growth in the number of channels, spheres of consumption (terrestrial, cable, online) and types of screens. It is becoming more difficult to fight for the audience’s attention, especially the young one. Young viewers live in the digital sphere, where they consume our content among other things. But the system of measuring such viewership is imperfect – it only counts desktops. Our internal stats and additional research shows that mobile viewership comprises the largest part of TV content consumption online.
What are your biggest achievements in the digital sphere?
Honestly, I haven’t expected the results to be so great: three million subscribers to our YouTube Channel, and a staggering number of online views for NTV series. As part of the agreement with the OTT service Ivi.ru, we featured several projects as catch forward. Retribution became one of the top five most popular series in this model, and Beyond Death was one of the top three in catch forward. The videos of SuperYou! generated an unthinkable number of views – the performance of Diana Ankudinova along had over 50 million views on YouTube. It is obvious that the shows we produce, both series and programs, are equally interesting and relevant to traditional and digital TV audiences.
You have now created a solid slate of original series. How do you plan to monetize these shows on the web in the times of constantly growing popularity of VOD services in Russia?
We are trying several approaches when working with various market players. For example, last year Mediascope launched measurements of viewership of TV content on the internet on the base of the Big TV project. Its main idea is to monetize TV ads, which remains on the internet for some time. We participate in this research, analyze data and await the development of this project in the direction of measurement of mobile views and all video platforms.
NTV’s online popularity is enormous – we have over 350 million clicks and views a month. We reach out to our audience through the news, live air, video on demand, and social networks. We are proud to see that variety of NTV content attracts over 14 million unique users of the website, and over 12 million views on the mobile app a month. We know we are loved and watched on the Internet.
Does the fact that you are one of the largest national channels in Russia impose some limitations on you creatively? What can you show and what not?
I think it all depends on a personal level of morality and integrity. We have significantly cut down on aggressive, provocative content, we do not expose someone’s dirty laundry and do not get involved in various things often used by our competitors. We understand that this content might be interesting to certain type of viewers, but we do not want to drive away the new audience that’s gradually joining us.
How well does NTV balance between the audience success and financial results?
The three Russian leading federal broadcasters, including NTV, cover 45% of the entire TV market, which reached 90 billion rubles in H1 2018. We get our part of the advertising pie with the help of high-quality content that is popular among the audience. Moreover, our programs and series are commercially viable in Russia and abroad.
The media law was recently changed allowing channels to increase the volume of advertising. What do you expect to be the effect of this for NTV?
Autopsy will show (smiles). It is difficult to predict now. Negotiations with the National Advertising Alliance (NRA) for next year will begin soon, and this will bring some understanding of the matter.
How do you see the TV market in Russia developing from now on?
I see it developing fabulously! I think that all the talks about TV dying out and the audience moving to the internet are quite native. It will not happen the next 10-15 years. The audience 45+ is used to TV and TV product, and will continue watching it.
You are known for your strong social campaigns. What have been some of your best achievements this year?
We are very pleased about going in this direction. Such projects are important both in terms of their charitable effect, but also in terms of attracting the audience. NTV was the first to risk and air a social project in weekend prime, which is quite rare.
Do you mean SuperYou!?
Yes. This project combines a social focus and viewers’ interest. We are helping children growing up without parents in orphanages and foster families - we pay scholarships and we have set up a charity foundation. At the same time, we produce a fantastic entertainment show, which received several awards this year. Three seasons have aired, and in the spring of 2019, the audience will see a new super season. It will have children that competed in the previous years show their refined talents.
Another NTV’s social initiative is The Journey of Father Frost. On one side, it is a TV project, and on the other one – a large-scale social effort, during which we visit social institutions, hospitals, and orphanages and grant wishes. It is nice to see the project being interesting to advertisers and sponsors – they understand the importance of the mission. Our informational services also support the charity theme. Videos with calls for helping children received around 300 million rubles in donations. We do not rest on laurels but the work is going on constantly.
We want to talk about that during the MIPCOM and to show what NTV is about, since information about Russian TV in the international market is quite vague. When it comes to our audience, we will try to make this season strong and entertaining. We have prepared two major projects in celebration of the 25th anniversary.
The first is called Maltseva. The name of Natalia Maltseva has become associated with home, renovation, beauty and coziness. Next, the legendary news host Tatiana Mitkova, who stood at the origins of NTV, returns on air. She will interview extraordinary people that completely turned their lives around in the new project Incredible Life Story.
For its anniversary, NTV also launched an IAM25 campaign, which has already become a significant event on social networks. Celebrities and NTV hosts were the first to support it. They shared stories that happened when they were 25, posted videos with hashtags and engaged millions of people in the campaign.
You have been investing heavily in original and adapted drama productions over the past few years. What will this season be like?
The entire season has already been scheduled: we know exactly what will air in October, November and December. I am sure it will be very prominent for the audience. Everyone knows that when our team joined NTV in the end of 2015, the series shelf was empty. There was no library of content, nor did we have time for planning. During the last two years we had to work ‘fresh off the boat’, because nobody’s cancelled a 24/7 air. Now, however, the situation has changed – the series shelf started to fill up and we have an opportunity to plan the upcoming season ahead and more carefully.
We have franchises of projects that our team launched two years ago – new seasons of series Nevsky and Shepherd, which became true hits. Of course, we will also surprise the audience with great premieres. I would like to mention the series Brass Sun with Vladimir Mashkov. The project will definitely become the highlight of the TV season, and I hope it will be interesting to the global audience as well. It is based on a true story that happened during the collapse of the Soviet Union. The action takes place in a small town in one of the former Central Asian republics, where Russian military musicians had to protect the locals. Another series, The Crow (Vorona), is a tension-packed thriller about a hunt for a serial killer. Valery Todorovsky’s project features Elizaveta Boyarskaya and Anatoly Beliy as leads. Other premieres to look forward to this season are Dinosaur with Andrey Smirnov and Retribution with Pavel Priluchniy.
NTV also acquired the rights for the adaptation of Korean crime dramas - Defendant, Hidden Identity, and Stranger; all three are currently in development. We have recently completed the production of The Good Wife, an adaptation of the famous American series of the same name. Last spring, we aired our version of The Bridge (Bron/Broen) with Mikhail Porechenkov and Ingeborga Dapkunaite as leads. The second season of the project has been completed, and the audience will see it soon. Also, the adaptations of Jeopardy! and Child’s Play have been successfully airing on NTV for years.
Which of the new projects was the most challenging?
We are used to producing difficult projects, and for us there are no technical issues we can’t solve. But if I have to do it, I would name Brass Sun. Filming took place in Uzbekistan, in the city of Hiva. The sun, the heat, and the fact that this small place had never seen such a large-scale production before – all of it was challenging. Filming in locations with developed cinematography infrastructure is one thing, but filming in a museum town is completely different.
Are you looking to expand your ties with international partners, i.e. not only regarding acquisition of formats and distribution of series, but also co-productions? Has there been interest for your original formats?
When it comes to co-production, it has to be interesting to both our viewers and partners. Most of the time, there is a language barrier. Many companies want to film in English when they offer projects, but our audience likes original product. Negotiations are currently in progress with Germany and UK, but we still have to solve the language problem.
The Crow
Can you share your plans for the upcoming MIPCOM and tell us about the international development overall?
The Russian market is not very popular outside the CIS. However, we clearly understand that TV is an international business and we’re doing everything possible to move in this direction. We have already taken the first steps, like the successful promotion of The Road to Calvary by Dori Media. The series has recently become featured on Netflix and is now available to 130 million subscribers in 190 countries. On top of that, negotiations are in progress to sell the series to dozens of other countries. For example, the Greek audience will see it this fall.
People need to see what Russian content is about, since it is not well represented or recognized in the international market space. It has not yet become trendy, but when we show our projects, our partners notice a very high production quality. Russia appeals to the international audience with its history and unique culture so we promote such series as The Road to Calvary and Aria of the Doomed.
What other achievements on the global market can you name?
Four projects have been purchased for distribution abroad besides the above-mentioned The Road to Calvary. These are Sleepers and Death Highway (Armoza Formats), and Aria of the Doomed (Global Agency). Banijay is distributing our Secret for a Million. We are discussing possible deals with other partners, and are opening the Chinese and Brazilian markets.
What audience do you currently target?
The key demo of NTV is all residents of Russia aged 18+. The channel is constantly in the Top 3 with almost 10% share, 58% of whom are women, and 42% - men. At the same time, NTV is the leader among the male audience with a 10.5% share. Same as all channels in the world, we are interested in attracting young viewers and we fearlessly engage in experiments.
For example, last fall, we aired our adaptation of Shameless, which improved the share of the time slot by 10% in All 18+, and by 42% in All 18-34. SuperYou! also contributed to the process of attracting young viewers. On top of that, the slate of NTV lifestyle projects is the leader in the 10-14 weekend timeslot for the 14-44 and 25-54 audience, surpassing even broadcasters that target younger viewers. This made NTV the only channel among the big three federal broadcasters that improved performance in 14-44.
We pay attention to current trends: fragmentation of viewership related to the growth in the number of channels, spheres of consumption (terrestrial, cable, online) and types of screens. It is becoming more difficult to fight for the audience’s attention, especially the young one. Young viewers live in the digital sphere, where they consume our content among other things. But the system of measuring such viewership is imperfect – it only counts desktops. Our internal stats and additional research shows that mobile viewership comprises the largest part of TV content consumption online.
Shameless
What are your biggest achievements in the digital sphere?
Honestly, I haven’t expected the results to be so great: three million subscribers to our YouTube Channel, and a staggering number of online views for NTV series. As part of the agreement with the OTT service Ivi.ru, we featured several projects as catch forward. Retribution became one of the top five most popular series in this model, and Beyond Death was one of the top three in catch forward. The videos of SuperYou! generated an unthinkable number of views – the performance of Diana Ankudinova along had over 50 million views on YouTube. It is obvious that the shows we produce, both series and programs, are equally interesting and relevant to traditional and digital TV audiences.
You have now created a solid slate of original series. How do you plan to monetize these shows on the web in the times of constantly growing popularity of VOD services in Russia?
We are trying several approaches when working with various market players. For example, last year Mediascope launched measurements of viewership of TV content on the internet on the base of the Big TV project. Its main idea is to monetize TV ads, which remains on the internet for some time. We participate in this research, analyze data and await the development of this project in the direction of measurement of mobile views and all video platforms.
NTV’s online popularity is enormous – we have over 350 million clicks and views a month. We reach out to our audience through the news, live air, video on demand, and social networks. We are proud to see that variety of NTV content attracts over 14 million unique users of the website, and over 12 million views on the mobile app a month. We know we are loved and watched on the Internet.
Does the fact that you are one of the largest national channels in Russia impose some limitations on you creatively? What can you show and what not?
I think it all depends on a personal level of morality and integrity. We have significantly cut down on aggressive, provocative content, we do not expose someone’s dirty laundry and do not get involved in various things often used by our competitors. We understand that this content might be interesting to certain type of viewers, but we do not want to drive away the new audience that’s gradually joining us.
How well does NTV balance between the audience success and financial results?
The three Russian leading federal broadcasters, including NTV, cover 45% of the entire TV market, which reached 90 billion rubles in H1 2018. We get our part of the advertising pie with the help of high-quality content that is popular among the audience. Moreover, our programs and series are commercially viable in Russia and abroad.
The media law was recently changed allowing channels to increase the volume of advertising. What do you expect to be the effect of this for NTV?
Autopsy will show (smiles). It is difficult to predict now. Negotiations with the National Advertising Alliance (NRA) for next year will begin soon, and this will bring some understanding of the matter.
Retribution
How do you see the TV market in Russia developing from now on?
I see it developing fabulously! I think that all the talks about TV dying out and the audience moving to the internet are quite native. It will not happen the next 10-15 years. The audience 45+ is used to TV and TV product, and will continue watching it.
You are known for your strong social campaigns. What have been some of your best achievements this year?
We are very pleased about going in this direction. Such projects are important both in terms of their charitable effect, but also in terms of attracting the audience. NTV was the first to risk and air a social project in weekend prime, which is quite rare.
Do you mean SuperYou!?
Yes. This project combines a social focus and viewers’ interest. We are helping children growing up without parents in orphanages and foster families - we pay scholarships and we have set up a charity foundation. At the same time, we produce a fantastic entertainment show, which received several awards this year. Three seasons have aired, and in the spring of 2019, the audience will see a new super season. It will have children that competed in the previous years show their refined talents.
Another NTV’s social initiative is The Journey of Father Frost. On one side, it is a TV project, and on the other one – a large-scale social effort, during which we visit social institutions, hospitals, and orphanages and grant wishes. It is nice to see the project being interesting to advertisers and sponsors – they understand the importance of the mission. Our informational services also support the charity theme. Videos with calls for helping children received around 300 million rubles in donations. We do not rest on laurels but the work is going on constantly.
