OREANDA-NEWS. September 22, 2010. Discovery Networks, a division of the leading Discovery Communications Media Company and Rambler.ru, one of the largest Runet portals, announce the beginning of a joint project, which is a new site designed for use by Russian movie-goers.

The site is available at http://discovery.rambler.ru. The site provided by Rambler.ru will help the Discovery Channel fans to find current information about new programs of the TV channel, get in touch with each other and use the video-on-demand feature to watch the scenes from the most popular shows. The site will have a constantly updated collection of videos specially formatted for online viewing, and several entire issues of such hits as MythBusters, Deadliest Catch, Survival and Dirty Jobs.

The Discovery Channel site in Russian will be of interest to Russian advertisers, too. Advertising on this site will help to build communication with the Discovery Channel audience, not only through TV commercials, but also in online format, and engage many millions of portal users in advertising communication. Rambler.ru will sell advertising on the site through Index20. In addition, Index20 and official representative of the Discovery Networks - Video International Target - are considering a proposal to sell advertising packages that involve simultaneous placement on the site and on the Discovery Channel.

"Today, our efforts are aimed at further business development in Russia, and cooperation with Rambler.ru constitutes an important step ahead for our brand. The audience will have a Russian-language website designed specifically for them, where they can watch our best shows and the vivid, impressive content at an entirely new level, says Caleb Weinstein, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Emerging Markets at Discovery Networks EMEA. In addition, we address our proposal to Russian advertisers, too: It will help to plan promotional campaigns which include advertising on television and online, and with the help of vivid, creative concepts, online contests and sponsor packages embrace an even larger audience."

"Analysts predict that over the next few years the number of users watching online TV, will grow by 30%-40% annually, and it is crucially important for Rambler to follow in the wake of this trend and respond promptly to emerging needs of the Russian users. We are glad that our first partner in professional video is exactly Discovery Channel, and we can now offer Runet users arguably the best educational and entertainment content in the world", says Konstantin Vorontsov, director of corporate communications at Rambler and Afisha integrated company.

The site is launched simultaneously with the premiere of a Discovery Channel series called "Life". To support the series, http://discovery.rambler.ru has launched an interactive contest: The participants must look for hidden code words while watching the show, and then enter them in a special section. This requires registration with the site. If the contestant correctly gathers all the codes, he/she will get a chance to go to a dream vacation. To promote the contest and new website they will use outdoor advertising in Moscow and St. Petersburg in September and run a media campaign on a few radio stations and in print mass media.