Russia's IT giant Yandex Unveils Record-Breaking Entertainment Growth, Fuels Russia's Streaming Boom
Yandex reported a 37% revenue increase in 2024, to 1.1 trillion rubles ($11.22 billion). Adjusted EBITDA reached 188.6 billion rubles, accounting for 17.2% of total revenue, i.e. 2.1 p.p. higher than in 2023. The number of Plus subscribers grew by 29% in 2024, reaching 39.2 million. Kinopoisk, a key part of Yandex's entertainment ecosystem, has reaffirmed its status as Russia's largest online streaming service for the third consecutive year. The platform attracts millions of viewers with its extensive library of movies and series, as well as exclusive content unavailable on other services. These results highlight Yandex's successful strategy in developing an ecosystem of services tailored to users' interests in entertainment and digital experiences.
Being Russia's market leader, Kinopoisk reported that last year its audiences spent 4.7 billion hours watching Kinopoisk's content, with monthly viewing time per subscriber rising by 25% compared to 2023.
Yandex has recently appointed Olga Filipuk as the new Head of Yandex's Entertainment Ecosystem. Formerly Chief Content Officer for Yandex's Entertainment Ecosystem, Filipuk will now oversee Yandex's subscription business and manage its core entertainment services: Kinopoisk, Yandex Music, Yandex Books, and Yandex Afisha. Her remit also includes Plus Studio, Yandex's in-house production center, which has already released several popular hits and is planning to adapt the acclaimed video game Atomic Heart.
Filipuk co-produced multiple Guy Ritchie's projects — The Covenant, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, and In the Grey — as well as Kinopoisk's original hits, including Patient Zero, The Monastery, Cyberfarm, The King and the Jester, Games-80, and films in the Major Grom franchise. In her new role, she will focus on expanding Yandex's technological footprint within the creative industries, developing new company franchises, and driving Yandex's international ambitions — ranging from creating globally-oriented projects and streaming foreign sport matches to localizing content for other markets, including through cutting-edge technology.
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