The 5^th anniversary international media forum KYIV MEDIA WEEK was held on September 7-11, 2015 in Kyiv, Ukraine. The forum was traditionally attended by the key players of Central and Eastern European media market, CIS countries. There were also many guests from other regions and countries of the world. 

Day 1

KYIV MEDIA WEEK was opened with a press conference, which started with the report by Artem Vakalyuk, head of Media Resources Management analytical department and editor-in-chief of Content Report and Media Business Reports analytical publications, who talked about  the air structure of leading Ukrainian TV channels and noted that scripted series and non-scripted TV shows are the basis of Ukrainian TV channels programming. At the press conference, there were also statements from Vladimir Borodyansky, head of StarLightMedia group, Viktor Mirsky, FILM.UA Group general producer, Viktoriya Tsomaya, marketing director of VOLIA company, as well as from Grigoriy Shverk, a member of Ukrainian National TV and Radio Broadcasting Council. They discussed the conditions in which Ukrainian TV market would be able to overcome its crisis and enhance its capacity. Among the hottest topics raised at the press conference was the ban on Russian series and the influence of this ban on the Ukrainian market of TV production and broadcasting.

Vladimir Borodyansky noted that in given economic conditions Ukrainian producers are unable to create the amount of content needed for the local market, and in the opinion of Viktor Mirsky, the quality of current Ukrainian production is a result of ten-year cooperation with Russia. The participants agreed that nowadays it is impossible to structure the market without making changes in the industry; the state should apply certain mechanisms working over the whole world, including  rebates for those who invested and produced on the country’s territory. 

FORMAT SHOW, AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE AND SCREENING OF NEW TV FORMATS 

The opening day of KYIV MEDIA WEEK was also marked by the start of FORMAT SHOW 2015, an international conference and screening of new TV formats, which began with panel discussion CHALLENGES CREATE OPPORTUNITIES. GLOBAL MARKET CONFORMS TO NEW REALITIES OF THE CIS REGION. All the experts, in particular Ed Waller, editor-in-chief of C21 Media journal; Sabrina Duguet, senior vice president for format sales in all3media International; Nicola Söderlund, managing partner of Eccho Rights; and Luci Burnley, senior vice president for format sales and development in Small World IFT (USA), agreed that Ukrainian companies have a hard time adapting their projects without participation of the Russian side, especially when the currency has devalued and production costs have grown. In spite of that, producers still go abroad and negotiate co-productions, attracting more attention of Western companies. The discussion moderator Ed Waller made a conclusion that now the time has come to focus on original ideas and own formats development, as it is cheaper to produce them on the other hand they have quite big potential to travel abroad.  

The discussion panel was continued with a block entitled SCRIPTED REALITY: HYBRID THAT CHALLENGES DOCUMENTARY AND DRAMA IN IT'S ENTERTIANMENT FACTOR. CREATOR'S, DISTRIBUTOR'S AND BROADCASTER'S VIEW. In the course of this discussion, statements were made by Felix Wesseler, director for business development and communications in Filmpool (Germany); Sabrina Duguet, senior vice president for format sales in all3media International; Olga Zemkova, editor-in-chief at FILM.UA Group; and Ekaterina Andrienko, head producer at TV-3 channel (Russia) who discussed the peculiarities of creating scripted reality as well as the perception of this genre by the audience. Sabrina Duguet noted that scripted reality is the most wanted genre of TV content in Eastern Europe and CIS countries; on these territories more than 6,000 episodes of local adaptations for various formats were produced, and she cited only those distributed by all3media International. Ekaterina Andrienko shared a success story about the launch of scripted reality TV shows at TV-3, and Olga Zemkova noted that scripted reality occupies the biggest air share in Ukrainian TV channels.  

Afterwards Emma Jeffery, director for international formats in BBC Worldwide, presented her report A Review of Pertinent Trends at the Global Market of TV Formats from BBC Worldwide and talked about global trends of TV industry market basing her statements on the examples of successful entertainment, family, documentary and series formats from BBC Worldwide. In her opinion, the most popular formats can be divided into three categories: Shiny floor shows, Lifestyle and factual entertainment shows and Scripted formats. Emma Jeffery noted that presently BBC Worldwide is the biggest world distributor of scripted formats and reminded that the company is always open for cooperation. 

The last speaker of the discussion block was the founder of K7 Media and a member of FRAPA board Keri Lewis Brown, who presented a special report The Seven Deadly Sins as a Pre-requisite of International Success: Universal Human Sins in Series Formats. Managing director of K7 media talked about characters and not the plot being more important in acquiring foreign series formats. When creating your own version, you have to base it on the characters, their life stories or relationships with other characters of the given series. First of all she named the seven “sins”, which are now the hottest ones in the import of series content: they are greed, pride, envy, lust, wrath, sloth and gluttony. She also cited several examples as well as potentially successful formats, which had not yet been premiered: Mammon from Norway, Last from South Korea, Norskov from Denmark and The Last Tango in Halifax. In the course of FORMAT SHOW screening, over 60 formats were presented, including the best and the latest projects from All3Media International (UK), BBC Worldwide (UK), FremantleMedia (UK), Red Arrow International (Germany), VIMN (USA), Small World IFT (USA), Telemundo Internacional (USA), Televisa Internacional (Mexico), NBCUniversal (UK), ITV Studios Global Entertainment (UK), Elk Entertainment (Sweden), Armoza Formats (Israel), Fuji Creative Corporation (Japan), Endemol Shine Group (UK), and others.

Day 2

UKRAINIAN CONTENT MARKET

On September 8, the international audiovisual content market Ukrainian Content Market (UCM) was opened and worked until September 10. It is a platform for meetings and doing business among buyers and sellers of audiovisual content from CIS and Baltic countries, Georgia, Eastern and Western Europe as well as other regions of the world. Among the participants of UCM were All3media International, BBC Worldwide, Endemol Shine Group, FremantleMedia, Viacom International Media Networks (all from the UK); Red Bull Media House GmbH (Austria); Eccho Rights (Sweden); Small World IFT, Voice of America/Radio Svoboda, Telemundo Internacional (all from the US); Televisa Internacional (Mexico); Global Agency (Turkey); MondoTV (Italy); bTV Media Group (Bulgaria),  and others.

KIEV COPRODUCTION MEETINGS, A FORUM ON TV CO-PRODUCTION

On September 8, in the course of KYIV MEDIA WEEK, annual KIEV CoProduction Meetings forum took place for the third time. This forum was dedicated to the theory and practice in co-production of TV content.

It opened with a discussion International Co-Production in Europe. Trends and Opportunities with such speakers as Nicola Söderlund, managing partner of  EcchoRights; Mark Edwards, commissioning editor for documentaries at ARTE France TV channel; Axel Arno, commissioning editor for documentaries at SVT channel (Sweden); Johan Seth, producer and chairman of Independent Filmmakers Union (Sweden); Frederic Pittoors d'Haveskercke, founder of Baradal company and consultant of selection commission for Series Mania Festival European Co-Production Forum; and Boris Shefir, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Studio Kvartal 95. The participants discussed the ways of joint financing for various projects, the most popular genres of series production in Europe, in particular the popularity of criminal drama, as well as the opinions of international market participants about Ukrainian documentary films. The discussion was divided into two parts: during the first one the speakers talked about their vision of co-production tendencies in documentaries and about the target audience for the launch of documentary projects. The second part was dedicated to the joint creation of both full-length feature films and series.

Frederic Pittoors d'Haveskercke presented a case study of Jordskott, which had Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and UK companies working on it, and talked about the reasons behind the success of four-sided co-production. In the opinion of Frederic, the most important factor was the popularity of Scandinavian noir dramas as well as the demonstration of the series trailer at European screenings. 

The second case, The Team series, was presented by German producer Andi Wecker from Network Movie Film- und Fernsehproduktion. The teams from Germany, Austria, Denmark, Belgium and Switzerland worked on the project. Wecker also noted the importance of a strong script and support from TV channels. 

The second half of the event featured a pitching session for projects from all over the world. The experts selected nine finalists out of several dozens of submissions sent for participation in KIEV CoProduction Meetings. The authors of these projects pitched their developments in front of the jury and brought them to the attention of potential partners in the course of co-production forum. 

The pitching session was opened by the presentation of full-length comedy The Client by Kateryna Shevchenko from Kinovyr Film Company. 

The producers of FILM.UA Group Iryna Kostyuk and Anna Eliseeva presented the full-length animation project Mavka. The Forest Song from Ukrainian animation studio Animagrad. Now the animation is in the development stage; its preliminary budget is $5 million. The production is planned in Ukrainian, English and Russian languages. 

The full-length drama The Tank, which is presently in the development stage, was presented at the pitching session by its producer Maksym Serdiuk and director Maksym Ksjonda who represented the Kyiv based company Noosphere Films. By the way, The Tank won Best Pitch Award and a cash prize of 1500 Euros at the conneccting cottbus co-production market (Germany).

The full-length comedy with docureality elements entitled The Contract was presented by Aleksey Durnev. 

The first foreign project of the pitching session was presented by Maciej Kubicki from Polish company TELEMARK. It was a documentary The Hypnotist. The film is already in the production stage and has been filmed since March 2014 in Polish, Ukrainian and Russian languages. 

The next project was presented by Olena Golubieva from Ukrainian studio Chervoniy Sobaka. The company is developing a multi-episode multi-platform animation project Darling Zhuzha. 

The full-length crime thriller SchengenStory was presented at the pitching by Wanda Adamík Hrycová, the head of Slovakian company Wandal  Production. 

The documentary project of Steps through the Air was presented by Lali Kaknavelidze, scriptwriter, producer and director from Georgian company Lira Production. 

The last project was a four-episode war drama The Doctor; its development process was shown by director of Odessa film studio Andrey Zverev and director Konstantin Konovalov.   

In the opinion of the jury headed by Nicola Söderlund, the best projects were The Tank, The Contract and Mavka. The Forest Song. The last one became the winner of this year’s KIEV CoProduction Meetings. The prize was a free accreditation to Filmteractive industry event (Lodz, Poland).  

PAYTV IN UKRAINE 2015 CONFERENCE

On September 8, in the course of media forum, there also was a conference PayTV in Ukraine 2015: Model for the Future Market. During the conference, a public dialogue between pay TV providers and media group representatives took place for the first time. The leading experts of the industry discussed the most efficient solutions for building healthy business relations inside the system of pay TV media.  

At the discussion panel, there were statements from Gyorgy Zsembery, general director of VOLIA company; Oksana Ferchuk, general director of Viasat company; Ivan Shestakov, marketing director of MEGOGO online cinema; and Sergey Boyko, president of VOLIA company. Other participants of the conference included representatives of Ukrainian and international TV groups: Olga Paskina, senior vice president of Discovery Networks in Northeastern Europe; Grigoriy Lavrov, senior director of Discovery Networks channels in Northeastern Europe; Apostolos Triantafyllou, senior vice president for sales in EUTELSAT; Polina Tolmachova, marketing and PR director at FILM.UA Group; and Vladimir Borodyansky, head of StarLightMedia group.

One of the main informational accents was the transfer of Ukrainian TV market to digital broadcasting. Vladimir Borodyansky  announced he was fully ready to encrypt the media group TV channels if not as a part of air platform, which is prohibited by legislation, then on a satellite platform at least. 

Vladimir Borodyansky was not happy that the representatives of Viasat operator do not want to make reciprocal steps and instead bring the situation to a dead-end, calling for the involvement of Zeonbud in the process. However, Oksana Ferchuk, the general director of Viasat, answered she was ready to look at that opportunity.  

ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION: NEW LEGISLATION IN FORTH AND UPCOMING TRADE REGULATION OF UKRAINIAN TV AND MEDIA SPHERE

A special highlight of this year was the roundtable discussion New and Future Ukrainian Legislation for TV and Media where the issues of limits on demonstration of certain audiovisual content were discussed, as well as the prospects of amendments to the Ukrainian legislation directed at improving investment and co-production clime in the country. The attorneys from different countries, professionals in the sphere of media law, state institutions representatives, experts and leading businesspeople from Ukraine and other countries discussed legislation aspects of TV and media industries. The main topics of the round table were the positive and negative influences of new legislative initiatives and acts on media business of the country and region, the opportunities for cooperation and co-production with foreign partners with regard to current political and social-economic reality. 

The roundtable discussion became a joint initiative of KYIV MEDIA WEEK, Ukrainian Telecommunications Chamber, and #KinoKraina group. 

In the course of the event, there were reports from lawyers representing Ukrainian TV and media companies, representatives of state institutions, experts and leading business players from Ukraine and abroad, namely Anatoliy Maksimchuk, StarLightMedia (Ukraine); Philip Illyenko, head of Ukrainian National Film Agency (Ukraine); Hrvoje Hribar, general director of Croatian audiovisual center (Croatia); Maria Cherner and Anna Alekseyeva, MGAP legal agency (Russia); Ivan Bakanov, Kvartal 95 studio (Ukraine); Vladimir Kotenko, Ernst & Young (Ukraine); Ivan Shestakov, MEGOGO (Ukraine); Grigoriy Shverk, deputy head of Ukrainian National TV and Radio Broadcasting Council (Ukraine); Yuriy Kraynyak, Jurimex (Ukraine); Olga Panteleymonova, Star Media (Ukraine); Irina Stroyko, 1+1 Media (Ukraine); Viktoriya Tsomaya, VOLIA (Ukraine); Magdalena Kralowa, State Fund for Support and Development of Czech Cinematography (Czech Republic), and others. 

One of the several key issues in the discussion was the reforming of existing anti-piracy legislation. Ivan Shestakov, marketing director of MEGOGO, believes that the fight against non-licensed content in Ukraine is delayed by an outdated legislation, which is too strict towards the market players. In his opinion, the efficiency of anti-piracy laws directly depends on the compromise reached on distribution of liability for non-sanctioned product distribution. He also reminded that in the conditions of adjusted filtration system for piracy material many states soften their laws in favor of business.   

Day 3

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE FILM BUSINESS: CHALLENGES, FEATURES, OPPORTUNITIES

The third day of KYIV MEDIA WEEK media forum was opened with an international conference Film Business: Challenges, Features, Opportunities (September 9). 

The introductory part of the conference started with the report by Artem Vakalyuk, head of Media Resources Management analytical department. Among the main industry problems in Ukraine the expert cited the insufficient amount of cinema screens; as of July 2015, there were only 464 of them. Besides, during the recent years the increasing trend in audience numbers as well as box-office growth in hryvnyas have been noted, though the amount of Russian-produced releases has been legitimately decreasing. Between 2011 and 2015, the Ukrainian-produced releases have become more and more frequent; while in 2011-2012 there were no more than ten films a year, in 2013 there were already 14, and in 2015 – 26 (expected by the end of the year). The speaker noted that presently the situation with direct state support is rather challenging, which should serve as an impetus for developing alternatives to the existing legislation.  

An introductory report Financial and Tax Incentives for the Film Industry in Europe was presented by Alexey Aristov from Deloitte & Touche USC. He talked about legislative alternatives to direct state support existing presently in other countries of the world. As of 2014, there were 26 such initiatives (in 2005 the number was 12). The speaker also noted that film business is an industry with high added value and great intellectual component, which is reflected in GDP and the country’s popularity among tourists. In these conditions, it would be profitable to create favorable conditions for foreign investors ready for co-production. To implement the tools which stimulate the industry development, it is reasonable to demonstrate the readiness to make reciprocal steps, including the de-shadowing of revenues.

An introductory part of the conference was concluded by Lithuanian producer Donatas Simukauskas presenting the case study of international co-production - film Redirected, jointly produced by Lithuania and the UK. The project stemmed from an idea to make a movie also suitable for theatrical distribution in Russia. The speaker explained why the Lithuanians needed a British co-producer, how they promoted the film for Western European audience, why the film won’t make it to the Russian market after all and also about the peculiarities of work with the British colleagues. Mr. Simukauskas believes that it is rather hard to sell a Lithuanian film to a Russian distributor, but if you present it as a foreign co-production, the interest will increase manifold. An English-language film will attract the Western audience as well, especially if the cast is right and a good comedy script is there.

FINANCIAL AND LEGAL WORKSHOP

The conference continued with the Financial and Legal Workshop dedicated to private investments and commercial cinema, types of financial participation in film projects, legislative initiatives for the development of cinematography, legal forms for participation of TV and radio organizations to produce TV and cinema products, as well as the peculiarities of production and distribution of cinema products and international co-production.  

The speakers were Philip Illyenko, head of Ukrainian National Film Agency; Sergey Sozanovsky, co-founder of FILM.UA Group; Vladimir Zelensky, producer and artistic director of Studio Kvartal 95; Donatas Simukauskas, Lithuanian producer; Yevgeniya Derbal, legal counselor of FILM.UA Group; Hrvoje Hribar, head of Croatian audiovisual center; Sue Hayes, independent consultant for TV and film production; Vitaliy Provorotov, co-managing director of Investment Company Concorde Capital; and Oksana Stekhina, director of business development at Dentsu Aegis Network Ukraine).

The first speaker was the head of Ukrainian National Film Agency Philip Illyenko who assured the audience that in the nearest future a document will be ready to reform Ukrainian legislation in the cinema field. The main novelties will be the initiative of cash rebates for invested funds in the amount of 20 per cent, the support of series production, and separate financing schemes for commercial and arthouse films.  

The speakers also discussed which first steps should be taken to launch the mechanism of film industry into action. For the film industry to finally get going and develop in a normal way, in the opinion of Vladimir Zelensky (film and TV producer, art director of Studio Kvartal 95), changes are needed both in the existing taxation system and in the current cooperation model of cinemas and distributors showing Ukrainian films. The head of Kvartal 95 is convinced that if cinemas start taking not 50 percent of box offices for the national films but instead, say, 25 percent, it is going to be a win-win situation for absolutely everyone. Film producers will earn more from distribution, and cinemas will have a much bigger repertoire of national films to show. 

Hrvoje Hribar (head of Croatian audiovisual center), in his turn, shared information about the methods of attracting foreign investors to Croatia, in particular HBO channel, which shoots The Game of Thrones series on the country’s territory; he also shared his opinion about why state support is needed at the project’s initial development stages.

Sue Hayes talked as an independent expert about the experience of establishing the biggest film commissions in the UK as well as about turning London into film capital. 

Sergey Sozanovsky noted that the state should be not a philanthropist but an efficient investor participating in the production, which will finally bring revenues to the state budget. In the opinion of Vitaliy Provorotov, in these conditions private investment funds can be efficient for this task.  

Oksana Stekhina singled out product placement as a separate type of alternative financing. According to Ms. Stekhina, presently Ukraine has a favorable environment developing for alternative ways of advertising products; mostly this is associated with a range of recent bans on advertisements of certain goods. In such conditions product placement is an efficient strategy successfully practiced at foreign markets. However, Oksana Stekhina also notes that Ukrainian advertiser is not prepared and knows little about the possibilities of its use. One of the reasons of this situation is the lack of qualified research on this topic, which would show the advantages of using such method. To improve the situation, Ms. Stekhina called on Ukrainian producers to provide more insider information. 

PRODUCERS' WORKSHOP

This year the main block of Producers' Workshop was the one dedicated to co-production with China. A special report Cooperation with China: An Inexhaustible Goldmine or an Impregnable Great Wall was presented by Alexey Aristov, director of corporate finance department and leader of specialized Telecommunications and Technologies group at Deloitte & Touche USC. According to the statistics provided, by 2019 the volume of the Chinese market will become equal to the US one.

In the course of panel discussion dedicated to co-production with China, Dmitry (Xuan) Liu  and Tony (Yingchun) Fang, representatives of China International Film and Media company, talked about their vision of China’s prospects in film production, about the peculiarities of co-production with other countries of the world as well as about existing underwater currents of local distribution. Tony Fang noted that presently in China there is a special state program aimed at cultural cooperation with foreign partners and entitled Go Abroad; he also reminded that Ukraine already had a successful co-production experience with the Chinese party, as it is in our country that the hugely popular Chinese film House of Flying Daggers was filmed. He also reminded about the memorandum signed between Ukraine and China in October 2013, according to which the states focus on rapprochement in audiovisual cooperation.  

The workshop was continued with the analysis of cases and a discussion Ukrainian Hype Films: The Guide, The Tribe, Battle for Sevastopol. Producers Talk: Expectations, Experience and Results. The moderator of this discussion was Polina Tolmachova, PR and marketing director at FILM.UA Group. The participants were Bogdan Batrukh head of B&H Film Distribution company, Denis Ivanov, head of Arthouse Traffic and Producer, and Yegor Olesov, co-founder of POSTMODERN, Animagrad and DCU companies. Each speaker shared their experience of building a strategy for films promotion; the producers also talked about their future plans and new projects.  

Valery Kozlitinov and Stepan Grebenko, promo-producers and co-founders of C-4 company,talked about the promotion of films, types of promo campaigns, content marketing, promotion channels, positioning, and viral campaigns.  They presented successful cases of film promotion, including such examples as Carrie, The Blair Witch Project, Planet of the Apes, Lucy, and others. 

WORKSHOP: COMMERCIAL ANIMATION AND CO-PRODUCTION

The finishing chord of Film Business conference was the workshop on commercial animation and co-production featuring: Yegor Olesov, producer and co-founder of POSTMODERN, Animagrad and DCU companies; Katerina Nazarova, representative of Wizart Animation (Russia); Dmitry Malkov, representative of 95 Animation Studio; Igor Storchak, director of FILM.UA Distribution; and Ruslan Podlesny, director of GOOD POINTS (Ukraine). They discussed licensing, financing, peculiarities of promotion and distribution as well as international co-production of animation content. 

The first speaker was Katerina Nazarova who talked about her experience in creation and promotion of Snow Queen animation to the foreign markets. According to Katerina, Wizart Animation sold the distribution rights by itself and considered international distribution opportunities when creating the cartoon. To do so, English-speaking stars were involved in the production, which became a good bonus for English-speaking territories. Besides, according to the studio representative, one of the most commercially successful territories was South Korea. Ms. Nazarova noted that the biggest funds were brought in by distribution, merchandising and licensing. 
Yegor Olesov noted that Animagrad develops such full-length animation projects (to be created in 3D) as Ruslan and Lyudmila (The Stolen Princess as its international title), The Trypillya Legends, Mavka. The Forest Song (winner of pitching session at KIEV CoProduction Meetings), and The Snow Republic. According to Mr. Olesov, starting from 2016 Animagrad plans to produce one full-length animation for distribution per year, including not just local markets (i.e., Ukrainian, Russian and Kazakh) but also international ones.  

As Dmitry Malkov noted, though the company he manages presently produces animation content for television (Fairy Rus, Multi Barbara, Svatiki, Kitchen), 95 Animation Studio still plans to start a full-length project soon. Mr. Malkov stressed that the script is already there. However, Dmitry did not delve into the details of his future project, being a bit superstitious.   

The animation block was concluded by Ruslan Podlesny who talked about the ways major companies earn on licensing. Ruslan singled out several types of licensing: licenses for characters, entertainment content, trademarks and corporate signs, and licenses pertaining to sports. The GOOD POINTS representative also noted that Ukrainian licensing market is very small and underdeveloped: its volume is 25 times less than, for example, in the UK.  

SPECIAL PRESENTATION OF 112 UKRAINE CHANNEL - NEWS TELEVISION OF THE FUTURE ALREADY IN UKRAINE  

The team from 112 Ukraine TV channel participated in KYIV MEDIA WEEK international media forum for the first time. The presentation was opened by Andrey Podschipkov, owner and general director of the TV channel, who talked about the challenges of contemporary TV news market. Yuriy Budyak, the TV channel’s executive director, talked about the channel gaining a loyal audience and the rules the team used having limited budgets. The presentation also included the statistics of the channel’s achievements, including the watching dynamics. Besides, Sergey Logunov informed that the TV channel introduced its own ranking system for studio guests, which allows to determine the most interesting speakers for the audience depending on watching results at different projects of the TV channel.  

The forum participants heard about creative finds of 112 Ukraine team, which were already implemented, and also found out about technical novelties used in the channel’s work, which help to significantly save up on resources, both financial and human ones.  

Apart from special presentation, the team of 112 Ukraine presented an interactive stand of the TV channel where everyone could see in detail how contemporary newsroom works. KYIV MEDIA WEEK participants were able to go on a tour to 112 Ukraine to see how the TV channel functions in the regime of an everyday marathon.  

ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION OF MEDIA REGULATORY AUTHORITIES OF UKRAINE, POLAND, SLOVAK REPUBLIC AND CZECH REPUBLIC

On September 9, in the course of KYIV MEDIA WEEK, the Round Table Discussion of Media Regulatory Authorities of Ukraine, Poland, Slovak Republic and Czech Republic was held for the first time. During the discussion, the issues were divided into three theme sections, i.e. Content, Regulation and Prospects of Development and Plans for the Future. 

In the first section, Western counterparts expressed their mistrust towards the methods of direct content ban as inefficient and damaging to the internal market. Among the principal topics reviewed was also resisting propaganda. The representatives of regulatory institutions noted that the problems of hate speech should be dealt with by administrative courts and advocacy organizations, but not state regulators like the National Council.  

In the section dedicated to regulation, the issues of media business ownership, information policies, quotas and their efficiency for protection of national product were discussed. In the final part, the speakers discussed the possibilities for creating new television standards in these conditions as well as the possibilities for reforming the legislation. 

Day 4

TELEVISION AS BUSINESS CONFERENCE 

On September 10, the 6^th international conference Television as Business was opened; it was organized by Industrial Television Committee in the course of the 5^th anniversary international media forum KYIV MEDIA WEEK. The conference hosted four discussion panels as well as a range of reports, in particular Evolution of Television by Konstantin Stryukov, Vizeum Ukraine CEO; TV Columbuses: Looking for New Revenues by Fyodor Grechaninov, director for strategic development of StarLightMedia group; Media Investments as a New Word in the Television Economics by Yevgeniy Bondarenko, head operations director of StarLightMedia; When It Is Not Late to Change Anything. Forecast for 2016 by Tatyana Katrich, director of Media Direction|OMD; Advertising Market of Ukraine. Crisis Lessons Learned by Svetlana Kalinina, managing partner at  Kwendi Media Audit and Andrey Taranov, KWENDI company partner; and New Approaches for Forecasting Advertising Market by Aleksey Virko, director of  Havas Media Ukraine, ADV Ukraine group.  

There were also introductory speeches from Yuriy Artemenko, head of Ukrainian National TV and Radio Broadcasting Council, and Katerina Kotenko, responsible secretary of the same National Council. Katerina Kotenko noted that presently the main issue before the Ukrainian TV industry is the deregulation of the field by state institutions.  

The first panel discussion was dedicated to the situation at the Ukrainian market from the perspective of media leaders. The participants were Sergey Sozanovsky, co-founder of FILM.UA Group; Aleksandr Tkachenko, general director of 1+1 Media; Vlad Ryashin, founder and general producer of Star Media; and Yevgeniy Lyaschenko, director of Media Group Ukraine holding. The moderator was Aleksandr Bogutsky, director and president of ICTV channel. 
The market representatives discussed the main problems associated with Ukrainian reality in the field, i.e. the drops in advertising market and series production. When the advertising market has fallen by more than a third, one of the problems is the ban on Russian content. According to Aleksandr Tkachenko, now 30 to 35 per cent of series on air of Ukrainian TV channels are Russian or made in co-production with Russia. Only two years ago this share reached 80 to 85 per cent. We’ll note that according to the research performed by Media Resources Management company, the share of Russian-produced series in 2014 was 66%; 6% more were co-productions between Russia and Ukraine. 

The ban on Russian content put up a serious challenge before the broadcasters and production companies: the former have to show something, and the latter are to produce it and also to sell it abroad if possible, instead of acquiring it from Russia. In particular, Vlad Ryashin, founder and general producer of Star Media, mentioned his readiness to go to the markets of Bulgaria, Slovakia or even Poland where the leading channels have only three or four original series per season. These prospects, just as the absence of any other option, push the broadcasters towards the production of original series.   

A separate panel discussion was dedicated to the alternative sources of revenues for broadcasters, in the course of which the following speakers participated: Irina Melnichuk, director for development at StarLightMedia group; Valentin Koval, general director of M1 and M2 TV channels; Marina Kolesnikova, marketing director for PLUSPLUS and Bigudi TV channels; and Irina Adryuschenko, head of Internet advertising sales department at 1+1 Media who served as a moderator for the discussion. The participants talked about the possibilities to obtain revenues via the Internet and about legalization of content as the way to normalize the market and obtain additional revenues.
According to Marina Kolesnikova, the digital segment looks especially promising: the revenues are still small but growing fast, 50 per cent annually on the Internet. At that the broadcaster already produces content for distribution as a part of this platform and is ready to publish it free of charge. Irina Andryuschenko supported Ms. Kolesnikova and separately noted that this year the market has grown significantly due to publishing legal content. The piracy problem was described by Valentin Koval, general director of M1 and M2 channels. 

The following discussion panel was a block The Future of Advertising Market, the participants being Aleksandr Gorokhovsky, CEO at Dentsu Aegis Network Ukraine; Denis Storozhuk, managing director and CEo at ZenithOptimedia Ukraine; Tatyana Vasilenko, head of board for AGAMA Communications; and Anton Kopytov, CEO at GroupM. The section was moderated by Maksim Lazebnik, executive director of National advertising coalition. 

Here the speakers discussed the most stable vectors of the advertising market as well as the tendencies of market regeneration in the current conditions. Anton Kopytov spoke openly about instability, in spite of the resilience of pharmaceutical advertising market, which in fact strengthened due to the devaluation of hryvnya. Aleksandr Gorokhovsky talked about the minimal reduction by 15 per cent in hryvnya equivalent, while Ms. Vasilenko mentioned 10 per cent, and Mr. Storozhuk supposed that thanks to political advertising and seasonal activities towards the end of the year -5 per cent can be expected. At that Mr. Storozhuk noted the lack of inflation during the last two months; the prices for goods are not growing, because people don’t have money any more, they simply cannot buy at higher prices. But next year the situation should change, and annual deals with the advertisers are expected. There is not enough money also because the goods turnover decreased by 27 per cent as of August 2015.    

In the course of the last panel discussion, the participants being Olga Zakharova, director for strategic marketing at Media Group Ukraine holding; Sergey Yevdokimov, general producer of Novy Kanal; Viktoriya Lezina-Maslyanaya, general producer at 1+1 Production; and Olga Panteleymonova, general director at Star Media, the issue of Russian series replacement with Ukrainian products was raised. In particular, according to Sergey Yevdokimov, Novy Kanal started increasing its own production last year, and by this season it already had a rather stable daytime air schedule. Besides, you can combine series and reality in seriality genre: serialities are cheaper than series, but their drama aspect is just as strong. Speakers also discussed the problem of production contracts concluded with Russian companies and the need for common strategy with the state for the next 10 to 15 years.  

Day 5

PRE-PREMIERE SCREENINGS OF UKRAINIAN SERIES FROM THE PARTICIPANTS OF #KINOKRAINA INITIATIVE GROUP

On Friday, September 11, in the course of KYIV MEDIA WEEK 2015 international media forum the producers of #KinoKraina initiative presented new Ukrainian series.  

The first scenes of most awaited premieres were presented by StarLightMedia group: a criminal drama The Dog about a rugged former investigator who went for a clash with a criminal world; a detective series Unit 44 the creators of which could not get rid of American clichés where law enforcement officers taste cocaine from a plastic bag; and When Everyone Is Home about inconvenient neighbors.  

FILM.UA company presented fragments of a medical drama The Doctor on Duty produced upon request of Ukraine TV channel. It is worth noting that this series is demonstrated in Ukrainian language. 

15, Vladimirskaya is also rich in Kyiv locations, as the series is based on real cases investigated by Kyiv prosecutor’s office and the new Kyiv police.  

The second season of The Sniffer still features high-quality special effects and inimitable acting by Kirill Kyaro.  

Criminal drama Nikonov will tell about a police officer who had to move to a wheelchair but still keeps on working for law enforcement. 

Star Media presented a melodrama Women in Love telling the stories of several women; a criminal drama with science fiction elements The 25^th Hour; and an adventure retro series Maestro.  

The end of the screening featured products from Kvartal 95 studio: comedy series Servant of the Nation and Relatives with the participation of Russian series stars and animation series Svatiki, the animated interpretation of Svaty.