Russian TV is sweeping across America: why are viewers getting bigger

Фото: Depositphotos

The number of viewers of Russian television in the United States is increasing every year. Moreover, not only the older generation, but also young people who do not want to forget their native Russian language, watch domestic channels and films.

According to the largest international operator of Russian-language Internet TV Kartina.TVIt was the States that took the lead in the number of subscribers who prefer domestic channels.

The first place in the popularity rating of Russian television is taken by Germany (52%), the second place is by America (24%) and the top three are Israel (8%).

It’s interesting that in the United States, young people are increasingly interested in Russian channels. Thus, young people aged 25 years and older become active spectators. But the main audience of Russian TV are immigrants who came to America many years ago. According to Maxim Wilhelm, marketing director of Kartina.TV, today 48% of the Russian television audience are people who occupy leadership positions and specialists from various fields.

“The Russian channels that we offer are watched by a lot of people: immigrants who came to the United States, young - let's say - Americans who have Russian roots and want to know what is happening in Russia or Ukraine, children watch films and fairy tales in Russian. Our video archive allows you to choose any new films. So demand is only growing,” Maxim Wilhelm is sure.

Family View

Vyacheslav and Emma Izmailov came from Russia to the United States a quarter of a century ago. And all this time they watched Russian television. As Emma admits, at the beginning of 90's, accessing domestic television was not easy. In the early years of American life, spouses even rented videotapes with Russian films.

“When we started living in Los Angeles, my father came to visit me. He was elderly, and we wanted to please him. Then we decided to subscribe to Russian TV channels, and so our love for now overseas television grew stronger every year,” says Emma Izmailova.

For a long time, the Izmailovs used the services of Actava.TV. ForumDaily talked about what exactly this provider started judicial problems and for some time thousands of Actava.TV users were left without Russian channels. Having learned about this, the Izmailovs decided not to take risks and chose another, more reliable, according to them, television service provider - the Kartina.TV company.

Dozens of Russian-speaking residents of Los Angeles sent letters to the company with the request to open an office in California.

Here are some emails:

“I want to rent a Painting for a year for $299. I pay for American cable. The Russian package is more expensive, and there are only 4 channels. Can they be disabled altogether? I don’t watch American channels, only my daughter.”

“I'm only interested in sports channels. You have 10 of them, as far as I know. I live in San Diego, California. I'm used to buying in stores. Do you have a presence in California? "

Showroom in the heart of the Russian quarter

Now you can use the services of Kartina.TV in California. Today this operator offers more than 150 Russian-language channels in the Premium package. This year, the Internet broadcaster successfully launched three showrooms in the United States: in New York, Miami, and on June 20, in Los Angeles.

On Monday, in the center of the Russian-speaking area of ​​Los Angeles, in Santa Monica, a new showroom Kartina.TV opened its doors. One of its first visitors were the Izmailovs. Kartina.TV decided to make a surprise for new subscribers and organized a promotion. When ordering an annual Premium subscription, all company clients automatically receive a Comigo Quattro set-top box as a gift. These consoles are multifunctional. For example, with their help you can go online and watch whatever your heart desires directly from the Youtube channel.

“Now I can come to Kartina.TV’s office at any time. This is cool. I work 6 days a week, but in the morning for an hour and a half and in the evening I will also be happy to watch the news or, better yet, the Kultura TV channel, which is included in the Kartina.TV package,” says Emma Izmailova.

According to the woman, television in Russian unites her entire large family. The Izmailovs’ relatives live in different parts of the world - Russia, Israel, Germany and Canada.

“You know, I just want to remember my happy moments in life with the help of Russian television. And when we watch something in Russian, it’s as if we are all gathered together with my relatives at one table. This feeling is difficult to convey. Despite the fact that all my relatives have different lifestyles, and they all live in different countries, we are connected by Russian television,” says Emma.

The new Kartina.TV office will operate 6 days a week, so the residents of Los Angeles have a great opportunity to come personally to the showroom and get acquainted with the huge choice of services offered. On the opening day of Kartina.TV visited about 50 people.

What you need to do to watch Russian channels

So, if you want to watch over 150 Russian and Ukrainian channels and video library, you need:

1. Come to the Kartina.TV showroom on Santa Monica;

2. Select a tariff: basic or premium;

3. Pay by credit card (promise to accept cash soon);

4. When ordering an annual subscription, get a prefix free of charge for a special promotion or buy a prefix separately when paying monthly;

5. Connect the console to the TV. With questions you can always contact round the clock support.

Kartina.TV is not only Russian television

Kartina.TV has been operating in the American television market for 8 years. In 2012, the company organized the Russian Film Week in New York and, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, brought 10 films, including world premieres such as “Gorko” and “The Geographer Drank the Globe Away.” About 10 thousand New Yorkers attended the festival at that time.

After this, the company announced its intentions to promote Russian culture abroad and began not only to hold one-time film screenings around the world (“The Best Day” in New York, “Fast Moscow-Russia” in Baden-Baden, etc.), but also to support musical tours of Russian performers, acting as the main media partner.

In 2016, together with the opening of the showroom, Kartina.TV plans to co-organize the film and music festival, which is rumored to be held in November on the territory of the famous American University UCLA.

See also:

Almost 90% of Russians never received information from foreign media

"Kina will not be": thousands of US residents turned off Russian channels

The paradox of Russian media in America: there is an audience, there is no media

Go to the page ForumDaily on Facebook to keep abreast of the latest news and comment material.