Video service MEGOGO launches new section with audiobooks, podcasts

By Yekaterina Yezhova

MOSCOW, Dec 3 (PRIME) -- MEGOGO, one of the biggest video services in Eastern Europe, has expanded its eco-system with an audio section, comprising a library of audiobooks and podcasts that will be distributed as part of subscription and individually, General Director in Russia Viktor Chekanov told reporters on Tuesday.

“We started eight years ago as an online cinema. A couple of years later we added TV channels, which now count 250. We were seen as an online cinema. Several years ago we moved to the format of films and TV. Today, we launch MEGOGO Audio,” Chekanov said.

“The main trend of the next few years is a rise in media content consumption everywhere and at any moment. It creates huge options for the digital platforms,” he said.

MEGOGO Audio will offer some 5,000 audiobooks of different genres within the first month of work and some of books will be free for the company’s customers. More than 4,000 books will be included into the main subscription, while some books will be sold individually at a price starting from 75 rubles.

Project’s head Olga Veselova told PRIME the audio section is incorporated into the Maximum subscription package, costing 397 rubles per month, and the Premium package, costing 597 rubles per month.

The company signed partnership agreements with several big local publishing houses, including Eksmo, Alpina, Azbuka-Attikus, and others.

“In Russia, the audiobook market shows permanent growth. It amounted to 850 million rubles in 2018 in comparison to 80 million rubles five years ago. And we’re interested in such a promising market,” Chekanov said.

The section’s users can listen to more than 100 free podcasts on different topics. MEGOGO makes podcasts itself and is also open for partnerships, he said, adding that the country’s current podcast audience is seen at 1 million people.

MEGOGO Audio is already available on mobile devices running on Android, and the version for iOS will appear during the coming several weeks.

Chekanov said the company will collect figures of the project for six to eight months to analyze trends.

(64.4097 rubles – U.S. $1)

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