Ownership concentration in Russian media market



This article is about concentration in media ownership in Russia.

Keywords : media, ownership, concentration

Эта статья о концентрации собственности на СМИ в России.

Ключевые слова: СМИ, собственность, концентрация

Overview

Ownership concentration is the phenomenon by which few people or corporations owns majority of businesses in a field. This article is about ownership concentration in the media sphere in Russia. What can explain it and what are its peculiarities?

Introduction

Concentration in media ownership is defined as the following: majority of existing media in the Russian market are owned by only few organizations. These medias owned by these few people are of all types: they are print media, audiovisual media, telecommunication media and most recent ones, internet media. Three major ownership models in Russian media ownership can be identified: both private and state, individually or simultaneously in the same media company [1]. The private owners of these media are not always from the media industry.

This trend is shared by countries all over the world. Differences exist of course in ownership concentration level and have different explanations.

Russian Media Landscape

The present media environment starts from the end of the USSR in 1991 [2] where big changing was introduced in the Russian society. For the media sphere, this period saw a lot of important reforms in ownership and control [3]. Before this period, media were owned only by the Communist Party and Soviet state. Censorship and control were prevalent. But in 1992, a new law, the Mass Media Law, established in 1991 become effective [4] until nowadays. It has been set to ban censorship and state only ownership. For example, the Article 7 says that the founders or the cofounders of media company can be citizens, organizations or state organs.

Nowadays, the Russian media landscape is marked by four big major features [5]:

1. The dominance of television upon other media outlets [6]. Television has the larger audience (about 72 % in 2014) according to FOM — Public Opinion Foundation. It is also most from television that Russian people can information about their country and the rest of the world (WCIOM TV).
2. Advertising is the leading business model for almost the whole media industry.
3. Strong concentration in most effective media industry segments and increase in state capital
4. According to Makeenko and Vyrkovsky (2013) [7], majority of largest media are centralized (from Moscow), regional ones have smaller audience and revenue.

Characteristics of the Ownership Concentration

Table 1 shows major media conglomerate in Russia and which media they own [8].

Table 1

Name	Media outlets
Sanoma Independent Media (SIM) created by private entrepreneur Dirk Sauer	The Moscow Times Vedomosti Russian editions of Esquire, Cosmopolitan, National Geographic, Harper’s Bazaar, Harvard Business Review
VGTRK Owned by the government	100 % of the Russia Channel franchises (Russia Channel, Russia 24, Russia K, Russia RTR, Russia-2) Karusel, VestiFM, Radio Mayak
Russian Business Consulting (RBK) Controlled by Mikhael Prokhorov	television channel, magazine, and newspaper (branded RBK) HH.ru, CNEWS, etc
Gazprom Media Controlled by the Russian state	TNT, NTV, NTV-PLUS, Pyatnitsa, TV3 Profmedia, Central Partnership Itogi, 7 Dnei EkhoMoskvi radio
Rambler Group controlled by Vladimir Pontain and Alexander Mamut	Afisha Lenta.ru, Gazeta.ru Live Journal
National Media Group Controlled by Alexei Mordashov	Pyati Kanal, Ren-TV, Pervyi Kanal (25 %) Izvestia
Dozhd (Rain) Media Holding Controlled by Alexandr Binokurov and Natalya Sindeeva,	Silver Rain Radio Rain Television Republic Magazine, Bolshoi Gorod
Moscow Media Owned by the Moscow City Government	Moskva 24, Moskva Doverie Radio Moskvy, Moskva FM, Capital FM TV Center Vechernaya Moskva, Argumenti i Fakti
Expert Media Holding Controlled by Russian Government, Oleg Deripaska, Oleg Fadeev, Tatyana Gurova and Alexander Privalov	Expert reporter, Russkii Reporter Expert RA

Conclusion

Concentration is strong in the Russian media landscape as in many others part of the world. Most media are owned by the Russian Government directly or indirectly and by worthy people. The largest media companies are most located in Moscow rather than in other regions.

References:

1. Vartanova, Elena, Eli Noam, and Paul Mutter, 'Media Ownership and Concentration in Russia', Who Owns the World's Media? Media Concentration and Ownership around the World (New York, 2016; online edn, Oxford Academic, 21 Jan. 2016), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199987238.003.0011, accessed 5 Dec. 2022.
2. Russia. Retrieved from https://medialandscapes.org/country/russia
3. Price, M., & Krug, P. (1996). Ownership in Russia. In V. MacLeod (Ed.), Media ownership and control in the age of convergence (pp. 171). London: International Institute of Communications. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/asc_papers/66
4. Zakon O sredstvakh massovoi informatsii [Law on Mass Information Media], Vedomosti s’ezda narodnykh deputatov rossiiskoi federatsii I verkhovnogo soveta rossiiskoi federatsii, No.7, Item 300. (1992) (enacted 27 December 1991, effective 8 February 1992)
5. Vartanova, E L et al (2016). The Russian Media Industry in Ten Years: Industrial Forecasts. Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture, 11(1), 65–84, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.16997/wpcc.221
6. Vartanova, E., & Smirnov, S. (2010). Mapping Contemporary Trends in Russian Media Industry. In Rosenholm, A., Nordenstreng, K., & Trubina, E. (Eds.), Russian Mass Media and Changing Values, Abingdon: Routledge.
7. Makeenko, M., & Vyrkovsky, A. (2013). Economic effects of convergence in Russian daily press, World of Media. Yearbook of Russian Media and Journalism Studies, Moscow, Faculty of Journalism.
8. A Guide to Media and Journalism in Russia. Retrieved from https://geohistory.today/media-journalism-russia/