The stakes are rising
On March 11, YouTube announced the suspension of all monetization methods for writers from Russia. As a result, the only potential income for bloggers came from viewers outside the country as part of past earnings.
In connection with Google’s decision, many bloggers almost completely lost their main source of income and began to think about the possible transition to other sites.
The two main options are Rutube and VK Video. Rutube is a Russian service that is the most complete analogue of YouTube, if we consider the functionality and external design of the site.
VK Video is a platform integrated with the VKontakte social network, it combines all video content not only from the social network of the same name, but also from Odnoklassniki and other VK projects. The service makes it possible to post and post both horizontal and vertical videos (in the form of “stories” on TikTok or Instagram (the owner of Meta is considered an extremist organization).
What would you like
Rutube and VK Video were developed for the Russian-speaking population, and so far there has been no talk of a full competition between Russian and foreign services, Ivan Samoilenko, managing partner of the B&C Agency communication agency, told socialbites.ca.
“If access to YouTube is closed in our country, there will be more than eight million permanent Russian users here, they will need an alternative to watch and upload videos,” he said.
According to the expert, the functionality of VK Video is currently more advanced, due to the fact that videos are one of the important parts of the VKontakte social network.
“In addition, the social network is constantly evolving and has become one of the beneficiaries of the shutdown of popular Western services. Management creates programs to attract bloggers, which will make it an even more popular place for communication and advertising in the future,” added Samoylenko.
According to the expert, YouTube continues to be in demand, but for two main reasons – advertising and constant updating of functionality.
He noted the lack of various functions in Rutube and VK Video, which, if implemented, could contribute to a more active transition of the viewer from YouTube to local platforms.
“Paid subscriptions On YouTube, which is not currently available in Russia, it will attract new creators as it will increase revenue from videos. In addition, part of the funds is devoted to the development and improvement of the quality of services,” explained Samoylenko.
The main difference lies in the promotion of a complete and improved product. monetize videoIt brought much larger sums to Russian writers before it was suspended on YouTube. Currently, both VK and Rutube are developing their own programs for bloggers.
You need a suitable video playback setting for set cylinder size The expert added it of his own accord.
According to him, it is also necessary to introduce advanced scanning capabilities: a function save clips to the memory of the smartphone – when the Internet is turned off and to see the function delayed view – After the page with the video is closed on your next visit, the viewing will continue from where the viewer stopped.
“I have to enter Privacy settingsso that the watched videos are not displayed in the browsing history, and it is more convenient. Suggestions according to the videos watched,” added Samoylenko.
According to him, all this functionality is technically possible and can even be improved if we talk about Russian video hosting sites Rutube and VK Video.
It’s not just about functions
Ilya Borodin, CEO of the Yoola media network influencer company, told socialbites.ca that in order to attract an audience, you should not limit yourself to functions.
“To think that just giving people technology is enough and everything will work is extremely stupid and narrow-minded – this is thinking based on the logic of a cargo cult (belief in the magical essence of technology. – ed.), “he said.
Borodin noted that the difference lies not only in technology and a few key functions, but also in the deeper mechanisms of competition.
According to the top executive, YouTube’s success is based on years of work on creating competitiveness for content writers, working with viewers, content consumption culture and community rules and policies, product and brand development.
The head of the media network highlighted the technical aspects that should be implemented by Rutube and VK Video to minimize the difference: introducing rights management mechanisms, improving algorithms, monetization, an analytics system, functional tools for interacting with the audience, and an advanced content moderation and tagging system promote it.
“If we think of the competition in an isolated system, we can say that the difference is that it is now easy to create new video platforms and win the competition with local players. As a company, we are considering such an option.”
CEO Yoola believes that successful products always come from competition, never from oligopoly. According to him, Rutube and VK Video will certainly be able to occupy small market segments.
“To do this, they must monetize good content, attract large numbers of advertisers, amass their audience, and invest tens of millions of dollars in product development,” he said.
Source: Gazeta
