Results of 2008 for Russian online media
Dmitry Rodin, TelNews
As for many other enterprises, the year 2008 turned out to be ambiguous for the Russian Internet media: reports about the launch of new projects and the growth of the advertising market in the first half of it were replaced by information about the difficulties caused by the crisis in the second.
Among the main trends in the development of online media in the past year, several main ones can be distinguished: the launch of new projects, the intensification of competition between financial portals, the distribution of video content, the increased frequency of proceedings (including court proceedings) related to the activities of online publications, and the problems caused by the crisis.
In the spring, TelNews presented an interview with the former editor–in-chief of Sotovik, Sergey Kolyada, dedicated to the launch of his new project - the English-language edition of Capital&ICT on telecommunications, media and technologies, entirely focused on the foreign market. The head of Capitalist talked about how it would be possible to compete with the Russian offices of Reuters, Dow Jones and Bloomberg, but if you go to the project's website now, unfortunately, you will notice that it has not been updated since the summer.
In an interview with our publication, Sergey Kolyada spoke about his sympathy for the English–language version of CNews, with which, apparently, he had to compete, but even that was closed in 2008 - along with the blogging platform Live.cnews.ru and representative offices of the publication in St. Petersburg and Kazakhstan. All this happened after the launch of the TV channel at the beginning of the year CNews.TV , which functions to this day (by the way, at the same time another excellent TV channel was presented by "Grani.<url>" – and this is not to mention professional videos that have appeared on the pages of various online publications). The RBC holding itself, which owns CNews, if we analyze official information, as well as listen to press reports and rumors, was also feverish at the end of the year, and this story has yet to find its continuation in the light of unconfirmed information at the moment about the purchase of a controlling stake in RBC by Gazprom Media holding.
On the other hand, RBC was pressed (and continues to do so now) by new competitors. Of course, in this case we are talking about online publications launched almost simultaneously BFM.ru and dailyonline.ru led by Anton Nosik and Raf Shakirov, respectively. A nice information project was launched a month before them Infox.ru , which has repeatedly since become the primary source of various news, which were later replicated by other publications. An edition appeared in the IT niche iToday.ru , which promised to compete, including offline media. Do not forget about the interesting project of Ivan Zasursky "Private Correspondent", which also started in 2008.
As the examples of CNews and RBC show, not all Russian online media had an easy time last year - and this was not necessarily due to the notorious crisis. In particular, Top4Top's summer statements about Dmitry Dibrov gushing with ideas were replaced a couple of months later by reports of massive cuts to the project and its restructuring. Life's attendance dropped in the fall.Ru rumor makers also associated with the alleged cuts in the staff and almost preparing the portal for sale, however, in an interview with TelNews, project manager Ashot Gabrelyanov reported a powerful DDoS attack. As you know, similar attacks on Russian Internet media were spread earlier, during the well-known events in Georgia.
Despite the downsizing of Russian online media caused by the crisis, analysts note that the current situation will help online publications to take a leading position in the media market. In particular, the St. Petersburg newspaper Delo will henceforth be presented exclusively in an electronic version – presumably not from a good life, but still partly in confirmation of the above thesis. At the same time, the magazine's guide for webmasters and online business owners "Terminal.Ru" decided to suspend the publication in paper and electronic form.
A lot has been written about how the crisis deprives employees of online publications of work: in particular, TelNews focused its attention on the history of KM.RU . It is also known that the presenter of the music column in "Vzglyad" Vadim Ponomarev, also known as Guru Ken, together with several colleagues joined the staff of the "Private Correspondent" mentioned above. Another story is connected with his name, indicative of the modern domestic Internet media market: the portal "Show Business.Ru" officially accused the music critic of stealing lyrics for his own NEWSmusic website. The struggle for intellectual property rights in online publications was also waged by other representatives of the industry: there were reports about the claims of Pravda.<url>" to the news aggregator Newsland and 300 thousand rubles, which the photographer managed to sue from the portal " <url>".
On the other hand, the Russian Internet media throughout the past year have been the object of more than ever close attention of the authorities - and it's not even about the laptop of the president reading Lenta.ru or his statements in defense of freedom of speech on the Web. The sensational model law "On the Internet" that surfaced in the winter, the provisions of which I don't even want to quote once again, became a harbinger of the amendments to the law "On Mass Media" that were never adopted, which proposed magically turning all sites visited at least into Internet media, thereby obliging them to bear responsibility on a par with "real" publications. This issue, in fact, has not been resolved yet, although not so long ago Deputy Slutsker made another statement about certain privileges for the online press registered "in the authorities".
Be that as it may, TelNews would like to wish all the current and just preparing for the launch of the Russian Internet media to come out of the obviously difficult financial situation with honor and earn the attention of the widest audience, without forgetting about the ethical principles of journalism. One of them, concerning the appearance and content of advertising placed on the pages of the publication, was periodically noticed by the editor-in-chief in 2008 BFM.ru Anton Spout. He also became the first of the industry representatives who shared with TelNews their opinion on the results of last year for Russian Internet media and gave their forecasts for the coming year.
Anton Nosik, Editor-in-Chief BFM.ru:– The most notable successes in 2008 Lenta.ru and the failures of RBC.
Lenta.ru it perfectly organically fit into all the information stories of the year, from football to Tskhinval, and without a penny of investment in marketing, it established itself in the public consciousness as the main news channel of the thinking class. Medvedev with his video from Lenta.ru on the presidential monitor, I only cemented the general mood. And RBC, the champions of the 1998 crisis, this season for some reason decided to inflate the state cheeks and instead of information to drive propaganda on the air. Their financial problems, which are being written about so much now, are insignificant compared to this epic betrayal of the genre, betrayal of everything that helped them to take place.
I think there will be less money, less budgets, there will be pressure from the authorities on the founders of the media, but in a crisis era, information is a strategic raw material, so interesting and fateful times are coming for the independent press. I am glad to be working in this market again.
Ashot Gabrelyanov, Head Life.RU:I think that in 2009 we will see much fewer Internet investment projects.
In 2008, there were many very successful and frankly failed Internet media launches. It is obvious that startups and investors have finally begun to think about monetization. The key trend of 2008 in the media was undoubtedly video. This is Life.RU , Russia.ru , Afisha.ru and others. Everyone recognized that the Internet media of the future must include all multimedia formats.
I believe that the growth trend of the advertising market will continue, but not in such volumes as before. And this will happen, rather, due to the redistribution of advertising budgets from the "signet", radio and TV to the Network. I think it will affect Moscow and St. Petersburg to a greater extent.
I hope that the state will create an institute of media law that will allow regulating copyright issues on the Web.
Pavel Vlasov-Mrdulyash, Director iToday.ru:Firstly, online media have started to earn noticeably more.
Moreover, what is earned does not turn into dividends to shareholders, but is invested in content and project development. This year, before the crisis, leading publications actively expanded their staff, launched new services and carried out advertising campaigns. Readers, I think, were satisfied.
Secondly, with the development of access channels to the Network, the media began to provide more and more multimedia content. If earlier online media were compared with print media - both of them were engaged in text and illustrations – then this year the basis for future comparisons with TV was laid. Given the degradation of television journalism in Russia, Runet has a good chance of a qualitative breakthrough in this direction. And it will surely be followed by an influx of video ads.
Thirdly, unfortunately, traffic-catching games, partner exchanges with yellow headers, etc. "gray" methods of promotion have not been stopped. Almost everyone is engaged in them, there is no end in sight. This is such a generic vice of domestic online media, which I would very much like to overcome - but it is unclear how, because now it is inherent even in state media holdings and large publishing houses.
There are two options for the development of the crisis. The first is the default of the 1998 model, catastrophic for all models of the economy. But for now, the country seems to be able to avoid it. The second is a fall within a year and a half, followed by a smooth increase. We observed some semblance of this in the post-default years 1999-2000, and it was then that the leaders of today's press became stronger.
I think exactly the same thing should happen in the next year or two with online journalism - network projects will catch up and, perhaps, even overtake traditional publications in terms of business indicators and content quality. The advertising market will help Runet in this – it will obviously suffer noticeably more seriously in print than on the Web – and the growing habit of readers to consume information through a computer monitor and a mobile phone screen every year.
Naturally, in parallel with the growth of the industry, the state will look at it more closely. It is necessary to regulate online media, like any other media, but strictly within the framework of the existing media law. If the authorities observe it both in letter and in spirit, then nothing terrible will happen.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru21.01.2009