PRESS: Russian e-cinema ivi enters US market via Roku players

MOSCOW, Dec 5 (PRIME) -- Online cinema ivi has become the first Russian company to provide U.S. digital media player manufacturer Roku with Russian content, business daily Kommersant reported on Wednesday.

ivi has been available on Roku players since the end of November for users in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. The device allows clients to install more than 4,000 video-on-demand applications, including Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube.

Roku users have access to more than 35,000 pieces of ivi’s content. The player connection costs from U.S. $30, and the ivi subscription costs $6 a month.

ivi leads on the market of Russian video-on-demand services. Researcher TelecomDaily estimated its share on the online video market at 24% in January–June. ivi expects its revenue to increase 62% to 3.9 billion rubles in 2018.

The service’s monthly audience amounts to 48 million people. On Roku players, ivi’s content will be viewed mainly by Russian-speaking users, mostly expats, an ivi spokesperson told Kommersant.

ivi is confident that growth potential of the application on the player is wider in the U.S. than in Russia because of a difference in the number of users.

Online cinema Okko does not intend to expand on foreign markets yet. Roku is quite a popular platform, “but there are doubts whether content only for the Russian-speaking audience will be in demand among users of the platform in the U.S.,” Okko General Director Ivan Grodetsky said.

General Director of online cinema Megogo Viktor Chekanov said the service has been working with markets of North America and Europe for more than six years. The U.S. has the audience interested in Russian movies, series, and shows.

“The Russian-speaking community is sensitive to the content, including of the Soviet make, and is ready to pay for it. International versions of Russian TV channels are also popular,” he said.

(66.4467 rubles – U.S. $1)

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