Representatives of Hulu.com, including its Senior Vice President of International Affairs, Johannes Larcher, visited Moscow last week to meet representatives from the Russian online video and movie industries, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported on Friday, citing unnamed sources.
The Hulu representatives were inquiring about the current state of the Russian online video market, its key players, and its advertising potential. “Hulu is seriously considering a potential entry on the Russian market, but their questions so far reveal a rather weak understanding of the local conditions,” a source told Vedomosti.
Hulu.com declined to comment.
Among the leading Russian online video services are ad-funded Ivi.ru, Tvigle.ru, and Zoomby.ru as well as the paid services Omlet.ru and Now.ru. But a virtually unlimited amount of video content from all countries is shared – sometimes illegally – by users of Vkontakte.ru, Russia’s leading social networking site, not to mention sites which openly feature pirated content.
The Russian online video advertising market was estimated to be worth between $20 million and $24 million in 2011, with an up to 80% rate of growth expected in 2012.
Hulu.com is a leading US online video service with content provided by more than 260 content companies. The company has offices in the USA, China, and Japan.
In May of last year, Netflix, another major video service operating in the United States, Canada, Latin America, the United Kingdom and Ireland, also visited Moscow to explore the potential of the Russian market, Vedomosti reported.
