Over the last 15 years, Star Media has supersized from a local producer to an international media group, with tentacles stretching from TV and film production to pioneering collaborations across borders, screens and distribution platforms. It has also become the largest content aggregator in the CIS and is a major presence on YouTube, where its MCN includes more than 65 multi-language channels. So what’s prompted such a powerful player to join the FRAPA family? “As the largest copyright owner in the CIS and an exclusive distributor of content, protecting our IP is one of our top priorities,” says Star Media CEO Maria Grechishnikova…

Star Media creates hundreds of hours of content across the genre spectrum, from historical dramas through high-end documentaries to auteur feature films. What have you been doing on the formats front?

“We’ve adapted more than 20 scripted formats, including Mistresses and Doctor Foster from the BBC, The Closer and The Mentalist from Warner Bros, FOX’s Awake, and Medium and Ringer from CBS. Currently, one of our flagship shows is an adaptation of the tightly plotted Israeli drama Your Honor, which has won numerous awards. “Several of our original shows are available for adaptation — Life After Life, Go Dance!, What Does Your Wife Do? and Good Angel, to name a few. One of our most successful scripted formats is Detective Anna, which is an historical detective series about a young medium. The first season was voted one of Amazon Prime’s best mystery series of 2019. The second season launched last March and is also performing very well What are your major concerns in terms of IP theft?
“Star Media is the largest copyright owner in the CIS and an exclusive distributor of   content, so we are constantly working to protect our IP rights against illegal use. We are a leader in ‘pre-trial defense’, participating in Google’s collaborative programme for copyright owners, the anti-piracy memorandum and YouTube’s certification programme. In December 2020, we also launched our own technology company, called ContentScan, to protect our content against piracy.  And because we have a long track record in format adaptation, ensuring that those projects we choose to localise are fully protected is also very important.”

It’s been a uniquely challenging 18 months. How has Covid impacted on your business? 
“The consequences of the pandemic have been various — and unexpected. There’s not only been a tangible change to patterns of content consumption, but the lines between the different types of content and the ways in which content is delivered have also become more blurred. We’re seeing an incredible interest in educational and entertainment content, and interactive products for tourists. That’s why we are planning to offer audiences another content experience by developing AR projects. We see this as a strategic step in terms of differentiating our content portfolio — for many years, we’ve been known for producing docudramas — and entering new markets.

“The pandemic has also accelerated the development of streaming services. Indeed, we’re just about to launch our own OTT service, LAVA, to target the global diaspora of the former Soviet Union. With LAVA, we aren’t planning to compete with the global streaming giants and existing local services: on the contrary, we want to co-operate with them.

“Analysing the statistics of Star Media’s 65-plus YouTube channels, there’s been a substantial increase in both content views and subscriptions. Our network now has close to 26 million subscribers and has been growing by one million per month through 2021. We expect views to increase by 45%. This growth trend is also being replicated on our pay-TV channels.”

What do you hope to gain from becoming a FRAPA member?
“IP protection is one of Star Media’s priority activities. As one of the largest producers and distributors of content in the CEE region, we have wide and deep experience of copyright protection, which we believe makes us a valuable partner for FRAPA. We stand for strategic and mutually beneficial partnership at all levels, from production through distribution to IP protection.”

* https://mailchi.mp/frapa/frapa-newsletter-september21