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VK to Provide Grants to Bloggers to Compete with YouTube
Video bloggers can apply for a VK subsidy totaling 100 million rubles. Experts disagree on the holdings' ability to attract YouTube viewers, but admit that the new strategy is better than buying major shows.
The VK holding will launch a grant program for bloggers working with long-format videos for the first time. A source in the company told RBC about this, and the plans were confirmed by the holding's press service.
According to a source at VK, the total amount of the subsidy program will be 100 million rubles. Bloggers who qualify as individual entrepreneurs and communities with 1,000 subscribers can apply for payments. Accordingly, the holding's video platform plans to replace YouTube, whose activity in Russia has been slowing since mid-summer.
Those eligible for funding must create non-advertising content in horizontal video format that is at least 10 minutes long. Creators who create entertaining and educational content in a “how-to” format are more likely to receive grants, according to another source familiar with the selection criteria.
The number of grant recipients and the size of each grant will be determined by the Coordination Council. In particular, they include designer Artemy Lebedev, video blogger and singer Vlad A4, stylist Alexander Rogov, rapper Eldar Dzharakhov, producers Vyacheslav Dusmukhametov and Zair Yusupov, VK top managers and others. Depending on the results of the project, the author is obliged to fulfill certain KPIs (including the number of content units declared in the project and the increase in subscribers after implementation) and provide links to the video and reporting documents.
What's going on with Russian YouTube? Since early August 2024, subscribers of fixed-line Internet access providers have been complaining about problems with playing high-quality videos on YouTube or a complete disruption of access to the platform. Roskomnadzor has linked the decline in the quality of video hosting services to the actions of the parent company Google. It is reported that Google stopped supporting the caching server infrastructure in Russian telecommunications networks after leaving Russia. Google itself denied this and stated that the lack of access for Russians to the video hosting is not related to technical problems or the company's actions.
100 million rubles. - A small amount for bloggers, - says Denis Kuskov, head of the TelecomDaily agency. He also believes that comparing VKontakte Video with YouTube is incorrect, even given the current situation with the latter being blocked. "YouTube is a global project with a huge library and various recommendation systems, while VK Video is a local service. Yes, in the current situation, the slowdown of Western platforms is attracting the attention of bloggers. It is developing well and has demonstrated a multiple increase in both the share of viewers and the volume of content. However, YouTube viewers still cannot access Russian services."
Kirill Tanaev, director of the Institute of Modern Media, who said that the money allocated to VKontakte was “worth it,” expressed a different point of view. “The idea itself (of subsidies. — RBC) is much better than VK’s recent practice of simply buying expensive concerts,” he said. “Online platforms that attract bloggers are different from those that broadcast TV series.”
According to Tanaev, YouTube replacement usually occurs when YouTube is completely blocked or when bloggers on VK “can actually make a living off the site’s monetization system.” “That’s not the case now,” he concludes.