Most Russians switched to Russian streaming services after the departure of foreign ones, according to a study by Rambler&Co. The survey shows that 62% and 60% of respondents have subscriptions to domestic audio and video services, respectively.
It seems quite challenging to understand how streaming services work: their databases overlap, and some subscriptions are included in others. We have selected domestic sites for music fans, fans of movies and TV series, so that it would be easier for you to choose the most convenient and pleasant domestic service in your opinion.
Russian music streaming services:
Yandex.Music is a music platform has been around for 12 years, and last year it was included in the list of the 8 most popular streaming platforms in the world with 65 million of tracks, according to a report by analysts of the agency MIDiA Research. Over the years, the service has developed, recommendations have improved and podcasts have appeared. Yandex.Music is a home streaming service for smart speakers with a voice assistant called Alisa.
Sberbank, a streaming service from the company Sber, appeared in 2020 on the basis of the Zvooq service, which, like Yandex.Music, has existed since 2010. Last year, Sberbank became the first of the Russian audio services to offer the opportunity to listen to music in Lossless quality. At the time of launch, more than 35 million tracks are available in high quality.
VK Music is former Boom and VKontakte Music. The service appeared based on tracks uploaded to the social network of the same name. Official statistics data are not disclosed, but, according to some sources, more than 400 million songs were available in Boom. The main pros and cons of the service: you can find little-known artists, rare recordings, remixes or amateur tracks, but you will also come across a lot of repetitive compositions and sometimes unstable sound quality.
Russian online cinemas:
IVI is a platform launched in 2010 and now offering more than 80 thousand films, TV series and animated commercials, as well as access to TV channels and sports broadcasts. Many channels are available even to users without a subscription, however, you will have to watch ads. You can watch movies on five devices at the same time. If you use the service regularly, it will recommend movies that you might like.
Kinopoisk is an online cinema which has an impressive collection of movies and TV series, which are presented, including in the original language with subtitles and in 4K. You don’t have to buy access to new products separately, everything is included either in a Yandex Plus subscription or in a Plus with an Amediateka. The service has a lot of modern Russian movies, cartoons, and classic movies in its database. And while watching, you can hover the cursor over the actor and find out both actors and characters’ names.
Okko is a service which offers several types of subscriptions to different types of videos. You can watch only Russian movies or, conversely, only foreign ones. Okko has educational videos: TED lectures, National Geographic films and recordings of theatrical productions and the sports section. You can connect five devices to your account and watch movies on all at the same time. But this option is not available when it comes to football.
