OREANDA-NEWS. May 15, 2012. The rating was carried out by leading international executive search company Odgers Berndtson jointly with PwC Russia. It incorporated 146 managers who have been identified as having the highest development potential, reported the press-centre of PwC.      

The rating aims to identify the most promising young (35 and under) leaders on Russia's media landscape, and to stress the importance of professional reputation in the market. Now, not only will currently acknowledged leaders be given public recognition, so will those whose names are still less well known, despite their outstanding professional achievements.

Odgers Berndtson developed the methodology for the rating, basing it on their profound knowledge of the sector and years of experience in identifying outstanding individuals in Russian media. PwC acted as an independent consultant on the project. Over 500 managers were assessed using information available in the public domain. Of that number, 146 made it to the final list. Participants were divided into 4 categories based on their area of activity: top management (CEO), content creators (products), commerce, company development (products), in 5 sectors based on where they work – TV, radio broadcasting, web, print media, and also holding and management companies. Potential participants had to be 35 or under at the start of the two-year rating period (1 January 2010). An individual's ability was assessed based on 5 factors:

Professional achievements (based on indicators set by their employers, accessible in TNS Russia's publicly available ratings);

Recognition among colleagues (rating participants’ votes);

Evaluation (forecast) of the short-term economic prospects for the media sector in which individual rating participants’ employer-companies operate (PwC - factor);

Evaluation (forecast) of demand on the jobs market for managers with comparable professional profiles (Odgers Berndtson - factor);

Age (relative to managers’ average age in the sector);

Under the methodology used, the rating was not only able to cover a wide range of media figures, but also included those who usually only receive recognition among their peers or specialist analysts. So, for example, under online-projects, which were considered as part of a single media market, the rating included Pavel Durov, General Director of the social networking site Vkontakte, and Yury Vorontsov, Head of Vertical Search Services at Yandex. The TV category included Dmitry Mednikov, Editor in Chief of TV Channels Russia 2 and Russia 24, and Sergey Burygin, Programme Director at REN-TV.

The internet sector is home to the highest number of talented young managers. In total, 62 people were listed in that section, while only 10 were listed in radio.  This is because the professional barrier to work in the internet sector is significantly lower, while as an industry, radio is relatively conservative in staffing terms, and consequently, the generational shift takes place more slowly there.

An important distinguishing feature of this rating of young media managers is the significance given to age as a factor. The methodology was developed based on the fact that, as things currently stand, the earlier someone enters the industry, the greater their long-term career potential. That is one key reason why Vladislav Kreinin was one of the highest-scoring people on the list. Currently 24 years of age, he was one of the youngest participants in this rating, and is PR-director at one of Russia's largest and fastest-growing media holdings – the united company Afisha and Rambler.

This rating sheds light on a far broader circle of outstanding individuals, whose names might not be known but who are already establishing themselves as outstanding media managers, and who are sure to go on to have a serious impact on Russia's media landscape.

Roman Tyshkovskiy, Partner and Media Practice Head at Odgers Berndtson’s Moscow office noted that there are several ways of getting to the top of professional ratings like this:

"First, be a lot younger than the average age for the specific sector and position. Second, get a senior position in a well known company, that way you become better known and gain a wider field of action. Third, work in a rapidly expanding company, as one of the factors is an evaluation of growth. For example, shares in Gazprom-Media (TNT and NTV) have recently shown rapid growth, and consequently, people in these companies gained an additional advantage. Also, being an "opinion leader" helps, i.e. receiving a lot of votes from other rating participants. Getting the best results of course depends on several factors coming together. Overall, the media is a very dynamic sector of the economy and there is certainly room for ambitious people to build their careers within it. That is why starting early, often before you finish your studies, is so important, and lays the foundations of future career success. The media industry is still hungry for talented top-managers."

Evgeny Klimenko, Partner, Assurance, PwC Russia, however, noted:

"Participating in this project as independent consultants further confirmed to us just how much potential the Russian media market has, and that this is directly linked to the appearance of talented new individuals in the sector. In particular, the analysis bears out data in PwC's recently published annual survey "Global entertainment and media outlook: 2011-2015" while also speaking to the fact that digital technologies have an impact on all segments of the sector and that the internet is opening up new professional horizons for talented young people."