Given the importance of the region, it was surprising and indeed disappointing that Central and Eastern Europe barely got a mention at this week’s two-day OTTtv World Summit in London.
However, there was one particular presentation worthy of note that provided insights into the activities of Megogo, an online cinema and legal video content company headquartered in Ukraine and with representatives in Russia and four other parts of the former Soviet Union.
The facts behind Megogo, provided by its marketing director Ivan Shestakov, are impressive. Launched just two years ago, it operates in 15 countries of the former Soviet Union, with a library of 24,000 hours of high quality video made possible by over 200 rights contracts, many of them exclusive.
Given the high level of piracy in the markets it operates in – up to 95% in Ukraine –Megogo also has to be free. However, it also has premium content in its offer.
At present, the company has 24 million unique visitors per month, and over 2 million daily, watching over 2 million video streams and 35 million minutes of video. Together, Russia and Ukraine account for around three quarters of its users, though it should be noted that the service is even accessed in the US and Canada.
Crucially, Megogo has its own content delivery network (CDN). It also works with core operators in such markets as Kazakhstan in order to reduce costs.
Megogo can be received on all main devices, as well as several set-top boxes, with the web, mobile and tablets accounting for 61% of access.
Although 2.555m access the service via Android and 0.4m via iOS, the latter figure is expected to increase to 1 million by the end of the year.
One of Megogo’s great strengths is the partnerships it has built up with other companies. They now total over 500, with those in the telco sector including Volia, Beeline and Kyivstar.
While now offering just a VOD service, Megogo is trialing linear TV and expects to add it to its platform shortly.
The latter may also include channels from other parties, delivered OTT.
Megogo is also developing music and news content for its platform.
When asked about the possibility of a service such as Netflix launching in the former Soviet Union markets, Shestakov said it was unlikely as it couldn’t move fast enough because of piracy and didn’t have copyright for the territories.
