Russian platform overtakes YouTube – media

VK Video has surpassed the US-based service in terms of daily audience in the country, TASS reports

Video platform VK Video surpassed YouTube in terms of daily Russian users last month, TASS news agency reported on Thursday, citing data provided by media monitoring company Mediascope.

The daily audience for Russia’s VK amounted to 41 million people between December 29 and January 8, compared to 33 million people a day for the Google-owned video platform, the monitor said. The number of users peaked at 42 million on January 8, the report noted.

Another domestic video-hosting platform, RuTube, owned by Gazprom Media, was in third position, it added.

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VK Video overtook YouTube for the first time on December 22, according to Mediascope’s data. The audience of the Russian service reached 40.4 million users on that day, while that of YouTube stood at 40 million.

VK Video is a video hosting and streaming service integrated into the Vkontakte (VK) social media platform, the Russian equivalent of Facebook. VK was launched in 2006 by Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram messenger.

In July, Russian authorities announced a slowing down of YouTube’s loading speeds, citing the US video-hosting platform’s disregard of the Russian legislation.

YouTube has regularly deleted the channels of Russian public figures, including bloggers, journalists, and artists, whose position differs from what is accepted in the West, authorities said.

Russian news broadcasters have also filed a host of lawsuits against Google, accusing it of unlawfully blocking their content.

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Over the past few months, users have reported trouble accessing the service, and traffic in December reportedly fell to 20% of the level a year before.

The reduction in YouTube’s accessibility prompted many Russian users to switch to alternatives, resulting in a notable increase in the daily audience of domestic video streaming platforms.

Google previously insisted that the disruptions are not related to technical problems or actions on the part of the corporation.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, however, has said the responsibility for the slowdown lies with the American corporation. The tech giant did not upgrade its equipment due to sanctions on Russia, has not complied with Russian laws, and has been manipulating search results in the interests of Western politicians, the Russian leader said last month.