Video streaming platform ivi.ru considers Nasdaq IPO this year

Video streaming platform ivi.ru considers Nasdaq IPO this year
Russia's answer to Netflix, the video streaming platform ivi.ru, is considering an IPO on Nasdaq this year. / wiki
By EWDN in Moscow February 18, 2020

After receiving a $40mn capital injection last year, Russian online video company ivi.ru has plans to go public this year, according to Kommersant.

Unnamed industry sources told the business daily last week that the operation could take place on the Nasdaq by the end of this year with JP Morgan Chase underwriting the IPO.

The ivi.ru press service declined to comment on what it calls “rumours” – but, as pointed out by Kommersant, these rumours are in line with previous statements from the company’s CEO Oleg Tumanov in 2018 when he told online publication TJournal an IPO could take place by 2020 “if the ruble will not fall again”.

Russian billionaire Leonid Boguslavsky, whose venture firm Ru-Net (now known as RTP Global) backed ivi.ru at the early stage, told Kommersant that the decision to go public “is not taken yet”.

Russia’s largest video streaming platform in terms of revenue, ivi.ru could be valued at more than $700mn, according to analysts who talked with Kommersant.

Small market, strong growth

The Russian online video market exceeded RUB17bn in 2019 ($264mn), according to preliminary estimates from TMT Consulting. In 2018, ivi, Okko and Amediateka led the market with market shares of 36%, 19% and 9% respectively.

According to another estimate by Telecom Daily (cited by Vedomosti), Russian online video platforms saw their revenues grow to RUB10.6bn in the first half of 2019 (around $163mn), up 44.3% from the same period in 2018. By the end of 2019, these platforms – including foreign ones: YouTube, iTunes, Google Play – were expected to earn about RUB21.5bn. Seven years ago, this market did not exceed RUB1bn.

At the beginning, the business model of the Russian online video platform relied primarily on advertising revenues. However, two years ago, user-generated revenues exceeded advertising revenues. Since then, the share of user-generated revenues has grown constantly, Vedomosti noted. In the first half of 2019, this share reached 70% of total revenues (RUB7.3bn, up 70% from 1H18), while advertising revenue generated just RUB3.3bn (up 11%).

 

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