Virtual Screenings Autumn 2020: NTV positions Russian content abroad

The network has a content library of over 25,500 hours with 8,500 hours of action-packed TV shows. ‘We target a wide circle of 18+ audience, so anyone can enjoy our content. As one of the biggest TV channels in Russia, we really do care about the quality of our content: we invest in our scripts, actors, directors and props’, underlines Timur Weinstein, General Producer of NTV Broadcasting Company.

 

Prensario asked on how Covid-19 has affected the company business but also its strategy. Weistein commented: ‘We had to reinvent some of the processes due to the new measures and limitations. We put our production routine under strict disease control and found ways to keep producing the same amounts of original content. 30% of NTV broadcasting consists of premiere shows and films, so we’re doing our best to maintain that proportion because we understand that now our audience needs entertainment content and quality TV shows more than ever’.

 

 

‘From time to time, we put reruns of the hit media franchises on our prime time. We are not afraid to show them for the second or the third time – the reruns do really well on the channel. During the lockdown, all the filmings were suspended. However, it couldn’t stop us, we still had plenty of work to do: we were editing the footage at hand and working on the screenplays for new projects. We reorganized the production processes of our shows and decided to hold up on live audience. We minimized the time our employees had to spend on the studio stages and made sure that the crew on set followed the health and safety regulations. In some fields, we explored well-known technologies like virtual studios on a new level. Many live interviews moved to online platforms’, he added.

 

The Miracle of the Holy Fire is one of the major events of the Christian world and took place amidst the pandemic. ‘We have annually broadcasted the service live since 2003. This year, however, the police prevented any mass meetings and promptly announced that the cameramen are not allowed to attend the ceremony. So we ventured on a quest across Israel searching for robotic cameras. We also found a Russian-speaking actress to comment on the broadcast. The most convoluted part of this enterprise was to organize the live broadcast remotely while staying in another country. Nevertheless, we succeeded with viewership share reaching 19.6%’.

 

Like many other business branches, ad market is going through tough times because of the COVID situation. But according to Weinstein NTV has experienced ‘positive changes’: Firstly, we have managed to cut expenses as well as minimize the production costs without compromising on quality. Secondly, we have started employing new technology more eagerly. We have more digital opportunities now; for instance, online markets significantly expanded the geography of their participants. All the measures we have taken have had a positive effect on our performance’.

 

During quarantine NTV audience’s behavior was ‘constantly changing’. According to the executive, viewers are searching for alternative platforms to consume media content. NTV is Russia’s first TV channel to release both TV and online versions of the same series. The action-packed drama Caged about the ultimate fighting was first released on the popular streaming service Start. The TV premiere followed shortly after. The series made it to the top 5 most viewed projects on the platform. Before it premiered on NTV, we had handed the comedy-action series Escapade to catch forward over to Okko, another big Russian VOD platform.

 

On March 30, NTV action-packed crime series Wolf Trap premiered online during the MIPTV Drama Buyers Summit as the only Russian project selected. In June, it presented two more projects at the first international online market of Russian media content Key Buyers Event: digital edition – dramedy Reluctant Hero and action-packed crime series Flashpoint that did really well on the channel.

 

NTV also sells period projects on the international market. The 12-episode screen version of the novel The Road to Cavalry by Aleksey Tolstoy tracing the fate of the Russian intelligentsia on the eve of the revolution is available on Netflix. The drama Aria of the Doomed about “Enemies of the Soviet state” wives was added to the library of Arab online streaming platform TenTime. We have some more new historical shows like action-packed crime series Noble Detective and spy drama Savage. Wolf Trap and Nobel Detective are being highlighted at Virtual Screenings Autumn next month. 

 

Wolf Trap and Nobel Detective are being highlighted at Virtual Screenings Autumn next month. 

 

Secret for a million is channel’s weekly provocative show where famous actors, musicians and politicians sell their secrets for a cash award. Many times the show topped its slot and became the best broadcast event on the channel. It is the #1 weekend entertaining show in Russia. The project has over 200 million views on the Internet. The format was optioned by ARB (Azerbaijani) with the adaptation coming this fall. By 2021, the show will air in three countries.

 

Weinstein commented that NTV’s shows are enjoying success in the Baltic countries: ‘Last year our product sales doubled. We sold over 1,000 hours of content to those countries. LTV7 (Latvia) has recently aired Mukhtar. New Footprint and the first two seasons of Dr. Driver. Mukhtar’s viewership share reached 10.6%, Dr. Driver’s – 12.7%. Miracle of the Holy Flame has been aired for 17 years: for seven years BNT (Bulgaria) has been purchasing the right to re-broadcast the ceremony. A Bulgarian foreign content distributor Tandem bought rights to the shows Retribution, Escapade and Trucker mini-series. 

 

NTV has a rich experience in adaptation of the global hit formats like Shameless and Bron/Broen. Last March, the Russian version of the Korean show The King of Mask Singer was premiered on the channel and season finale reached 28.5% becaming the key broadcast event of 2020, the best entertaining show on Russian television over the last four years and the best musical show over the last seven years.

 

Moreover, last fall Drive Master project premiered on the channel. It’s an original entertaining format created with Keshet International leading global distributor of media content. It was the first collaborative non-scripted work of a Russian TV channel and the largest contributor to the global TV market. It is the world’s first car talent show. The project has some unique features like the one-of-a-kind shooting platform engineered exclusively for the show, and a complex of challenges for car enthusiasts, unparalleled in the world. Invited car experts make sure the entertainment is safe and spectacular.

 

In 2H 2020 we will pursue the active promotion of the existing NTV content in the regions of interest, including Asia, Latin America, CEE, MENA. Asian audience is already familiar with Schubert series (BiliBili) and The Road to Calvary (Netflix). Vietnam will see the action-packed drama ‘Countdown’ (Arait Multimedia has purchased the broadcasting rights). TenTime subscribers can watch historical drama Aria of the Doomed dubbed in Arab. ‘New online market format expands opportunities for a full-scale participation anywhere in the world. We took part in MIP China 2020; now we present our key projects at Natpe Budapest and next month in Virtual Screenings Autumn. This fall we plan to participate in MIPCOM 2020 and ATF by the end of the year’, concluded Weinstein.