In late 2014 Okko (formerly Play), a leading player on the Russian VOD market, launched the country’s first Ultra HD 4K video service. The solution, developed in partnership with LG Electronics, was designed to meet the requirements of Hollywood studios for content protection, giving Okko the opportunity to work with original content filmed in 4K quality.
In December, Russian movie aficionados equipped with a UHD LG Smart TV could thus watch Hollywood blockbuster “The Expendables 3” in this format – which Okko claims was a world premiere.
Okko claims more than 33,000 subscribers with the newest UHD LG Smart TV set. “These users always expect the highest quality of their video. They want to the see the latest movies and are willing to pay a fair price for it,” a company representative told East-West Digital News.
“December 2014 and January 2015 set a record for SmartTV sales in Russia, including UHD-supporting models,” the representative added.
At the moment, the price for the UHD “Expendables 3” is 699 rubles (around $10). The company did not disclose the blockbuster’s sales numbers.
Okko plans to launch “up to one hundred” new Hollywood movies in UHD quality this year.
Not only does UHD offer a resolution four times higher than Full HD (3840 x 2160 vs 1920 x 1080 pixels), it also provides also a much wider color space. The original Ultra HD picture is brighter and more saturated with greater contrast than other formats.
Okko has taken the lead in the paid VOD segment, recording revenue twice the size of direct competitor iTunes in H1 2014, according to a recent report by J’son & Partners.
