OREANDA-NEWS. December 30, 2010. CTC Media, Inc. (“CTC Media” or “the Company”) (NASDAQ: CTCM), Russia’s leading independent media company, today announced the launch of its new social television network Videomore (http://www.videomore.ru/). Videomore is an interactive video platform that will provide free access to content from CTC Media’s three Russian channels – CTC, Domashny and DTV.

Videomore uses the latest high-end technology, which facilitates the provision of unique additional features, combining the functionality of a classic video streaming portal with the interactivity of a social network. As well as providing standard options such as watching and commenting on video clips, users will also be able to chat and create ‘video quotes’ from Videomore videos, which can then be exported to external social networks, blogs and other websites. Shortly after its launch, Videomore will also offer additional options like personal playlists and the setting-up of communal viewings of thematic channels with simultaneous online discussions, initially using text chat, with video chat being launched in the near future.

CTC Media’s social television network library will consist of over 2,000 hours of content produced for the Company’s Russian channels at launch. This online library is expected to exceed 9,000 hours of video in 2011. CTC Media is planning to expand the library in the future by adding third-party Russian content and content from major foreign producers.

Anton Kudryashov, Chief Executive Officer of CTC Media, commented: “The launch of our Videomore interactive video streaming portal is an important milestone for CTC Media. It is fully in line with the Company’s development strategy and provides us with access to the new media market through its unique social TV network business model, which is fundamentally different from all the current video websites existing in Russia. This ambitious project has been implemented by a team of professionals who have created some of the largest video portals in Russia from the ground-up in the past. The internet continues to develop at lightning speed with penetration increasing rapidly, especially in the target audience we are interested in. The scene is therefore set for Videomore to become an extremely popular interactive platform that is highly useable and which will unite its users around our video content.” 

Viacheslav Sinadski, Chief Strategy Officer of CTC Media, added: “Our powerful technological platform will ensure high streaming speeds, which will contribute to the platform’s popularity and user experience and make it an attractive platform for advertisers. Our new social television network will provide plenty of unique functionality while also offering sneak previews of our new launches before their television premieres. The new media segment is uniquely suited to our business model as it has the ability to broadcast high quality content while very accurately targeting specific commercial audiences.”

Total investments in the video platform are expected to amount to approximately USD 2.5 million by the end of 2011. The project is expected to break even within two years from launch. Content will be monetized through the insertion of advertising spots into the videos, subscription offerings for premium services and pay per view revenues.