Online video services are proving increasingly attractive for investors in Russia.
Kommersant reports that one such service – ivi.ru – has secured $40 million (€31.3 million) from the private equity fund Baring Vostok and its existing shareholders ru-Net, Tiger Global Management, ProfMedia and Frontier Ventures.
The funds will be spent on increasing the size of ivi.ru’s catalogue of films and videos, developing its technology and making the service more widely available on mobile platforms and smart TVs.
Ivi.ru was launched in 2010 by Digital Access and offers most of its content for free, with advertising revenues, its main source of funding, amounting to some R153 million (€3.77) last year.
Ivi.ru’s paid-for service is called ivi+ and its premium content, sourced mostly from majors, costs R299 a month to receive, with some titles shown on a pay-per-view basis for R79.
