Russian video hosting Rutube is breaking records for audience growth. Research company Mediascope reports that in June, 4.4 million Russians over 12 years old used the platform daily — twice as many as a year ago.
Other platforms also showed growth, although not as sharply. YouTube increased its audience by 9.4% in a year, reaching 55.6 million users. VKontakte increased its base by 5%, gathering 54.7 million people.
The secret to Rutube’s success, according to experts, lies in an unexpected factor — illegal content. Maxim Ryabyko from the Association for the Protection of Copyright on the Internet and Karen Kazaryan from the Institute for Internet Research note that films and series from film studios and streaming services that left Russia have appeared on the platform. Many of these works have not officially reached Russian screens.
Well, the lack of blocking of pirated content on Rutube is explained simply. Alina Emkuzheva from the patent bureau Patentus suggests that large film studios probably do not send complaints about copyright infringement. This means that Rutube has no formal grounds for deleting materials.
It turns out that films and TV series that are not available anywhere else have become Rutube’s trump card in the fight for viewers. But this trump card may turn out to be a double-edged sword. The longevity of this situation is questionable. The question of the platform’s future remains open if copyright holders nevertheless demand that illegal content be removed.
