CTC Media expects to be making up to 10% of its revenues from digital and non-core businesses in the next five years, according to Yuliana Slashcheva, the company’s CEO.
Speaking exclusively to Broadband TV News, she added that these businesses also include merchandising, sublicensing of its brands online and offline and sublicensing of its content to different off-line platforms, including the CTC International pay-TV model in cable and satellite.
Slashcheva also said that digital referred to not only broadcast content but also gaming, dating and ecommerce.
It is already trialing a dating service on Domashniy and will also start an ecommerce trial on the female-oriented channel next year. It in addition plans to start a gaming trial in 2014.
Slashcheva stressed that CTC Media sees such services operating as revenue shares, with the broadcaster teaming up with companies that specialise in them.
Speaking more generally, Slashcheva said that CTC Media sees new media offering the biggest growth potential. It has already taken a number of important steps to realise this. The first, only three months, ago, was to stop licensing its content to other internet aggregators. This should allow it, in two to three years time, to make much more revenue than up until now on mobile and the internet.
The second was to strengthen its digital team by hiring a number of key personnel and the third to start monetising its flagship, family-oriented channel CTC and male-skewed Peretz.
It has only just taken the third step, having already monetised the Domashniy portal for over a year.
Domashniy now offers viewers not just search answers but also “how to” advice on a number of issues.
Commenting on the Videomore service, Slashcheva said that it now offers content from not only CTC Media’s three channels but also, exclusively, Ren TV and Channel 5.
Regarding multiscreen, the company sees its main task as finding ways to get the family together in front of the screen. In reality, this will be watching the same content but on different screens.
