After problems arose in the operation of the American video hosting YouTube in Russia, complaints about which began to be received in July, many Russians gradually began to prefer domestic alternatives. As a result, at the moment, half of YouTube traffic has switched to Russian platforms, TASS reports the words of the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev.
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“We now understand the development of our own large sites. This applies to platforms with user-generated video content. We need an alternative and we see that we have contenders ready to enter these markets. This happens quite quickly. We see that the traffic that YouTube loses, half of this traffic “lands” on Russian sites,” — Shadayev noted in a speech at the final meeting of the public council under the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation.
Rostelecom, which warned back in July about possible disruptions in the operation of YouTube in Russia and a further deterioration in the quality of video playback, explained what was happening with technical problems due to Google’s departure from the country and the refusal to update equipment here for caching and accelerating the loading of service content. Google itself does not see its fault in the deterioration of YouTube.
Meanwhile, amid YouTube’s slowdown, the number of service users continues to decline. One of the main beneficiaries of this was the VK Video service, whose monthly audience increased to 72.2 million users in 2024.
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