Megogo announces strategic shift

Megogo’s new logo

Ukrainian and Russian over-the-top service, Megogo, has highlighted the production of its own “niche and non-format content” as one “several new directions” for the company.

Megogo said that in the next six months it plans to start filming a reality show, producing educational content, and experimenting with audio podcasts for mobile users.

It also said it aims to use its presence to help scale user-generated vlog content, which in some cases  already reaches hundreds of thousands of viewers.

“We are building a new era of television – not the way we see it today, but the way it should be – without restrictions imposed by rudimentary methods of content delivery and programming,” said Ivan Shestakov, marketing and strategy director at Megogo.

“We consider the existing separation of TV and VOD irrational and long overdue. TV and VOD share the same goals and the same users.”

Megogo also announced the wider rollout of the set-top box that it launched in the Ukraine over the summer, which is aimed at viewers without smart TVs and offers access to its service.

The monobrand TV set-top box from Megogo is due to roll out in the CIS and Baltic countries in the next six to twelve months.

The device is manufactured by Oasis Media Systems and is currently available to buy on the Megogo platform in the Ukraine. The company said it will also soon appear on the shelves of retailers there.

At the same time, Megogo unveiled a new logo and brand identity, which it plans to implement in several stages, ending in early 2018.

Megogo launched as a video-on-demand service in 2011 and started developing a TV offering in 2014. Last year it made its first ‘niche and non-format’ content plays, producing live broadcasts of large-scale cultural and sporting events – including concerts, ‘dance battles’ and eSports events.

Megogo said its new positioning represents its move away from a VOD and OTT project to a “large-scale platform for digital entertainment”.