Online media consumption is a major part of the Russian Internet. This is due in large part to the average user accessing videos through their social media accounts. Most Russian social networking sites also provide users with free (and now legal) ways to watch their favorite TV shows and movies online.
Recent eMarketer research confirms that Russians have established themselves as world leaders in online video viewing. Russia ranks fourth worldwide for the average monthly unique visitors watching video online with 69.8 million.
The Russian Internet population currently stands at approximately 82.9 million uniquer users, making the majority of the Russian users online video consumers.
What’s more interesting is the amount of time spent on video viewing and the amount of videos being viewed. Russians are spending over a day a month watching online videos. Aside from Japanese viewers, Russians lead the way on the time spent watching videos.
While not at the top of the list for average monthly videos (what the heck is going on in Canada?), Russians are crushing an average of 238 monthly videos per viewer. In both categories, Russia ranks way above average for their video consumption.
If Russians are spending this much time watching videos, you have to wonder what it is that they are watching. When it comes to popular TV shows, Russians are also similarly addicted to Games of Thrones, Friends, and Breaking Bad.
The top ranking movies on Afisha by votes, combine both American films and classic Soviet movies. Interestingly, the top two movies are The Shawshank Redemption and The Intouchables. Aside from two films, Hachi: A Dog’s Tale and Legenda 17, the rest of the top movies are Soviet hits including the third most popular movie below “Ivan Vasilievich Changes Occupation” (also translated as Back to the Future).
Legenda 17, otherwise better translated as Legend 17, is the only Russian movie on the list ranking sixth on the list. The2013 movie covers the life and hockey career of Valeri Kharlamov.
Based on the most popular films and their release dates, Russians certainly appreciate classic Soviet movies. At the same time, they also appreciate foreign films that otherwise didn’t make any big waves in the US. As more movies come out, we can expect Russians to watch their domestic Russian videos but take a serious interest in foreign films.
Generally, when logging into a site to watch movies, you will mainly see popular US movies. In Afisha’s category on the best films in the history of cinematography the top films include The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption, Interstellar, and Forrest Gump. Your video viewing habits may not be too different than the average Ivan in Russia!
This article first appeared on Russian Search Marketing.
