Digitaltveurope.com

Yuliana Slashcheva.

Russian broadcaster CTC Media has launched a licensing business and has presented opportunities to potential partners at an inaugural licensing summit.

CTC said it planned to license brands targeted at the teenage and adult audiences based on hit programmes including Kitchen, The Voronins, Molodezhka and brands from thematic channels Domashny TV and Peretz TV.

The company said it had already struck licensing agreements with companies including Unilever, Russkaya Cosmetica, Gauss, Polimerbyt and the Eksmo publishing house as part of a rive to diversify its revenue streams, and expected slaes of licence products to deliver between US$10 million (€8 million) and US$15 million in revenue from royalties next year.

CTC said it planned to have licensing account for between 3% and 5% of revenue over time, in line with international markets.

“When establishing this business, we drew on the expertise of the developed markets, particularly the EU and the United States; we also took into account the distinctive features of Russia. The Holding Company formed a team of professionals which supports the entire cycle of licensing activities: sale, design of products and promotional materials and subsequent support to a Licensee. We believe that the success of our brands can help our partners to succeed as well,” said CTC Media CEO Yuliana Slashcheva.

“The licensing business offers great opportunities for the development of our partners’ business. We will continuously present our new license projects and proposals to the market, including at the annual CTC Media Licensing Summit,” said Ksenia Gordienko, director of licensing products for CTC Media.