Channel One is the undisputed leader of Russian television. Every day it offers an audience of millions of people the latest news about the country and the world, live broadcasts of sporting events, original documentaries and programs, entertainment shows, as well as movies and TV series. The broadcast is in Russian.
The television channel was founded in the spring of 1995 and at first had the name ORT (“Public Russian Television”), and in the fall of 2002 it was renamed. The headquarters is located in the most famous building in Moscow.
Program guide 1 channel
The most popular programs of Channel One:
- “Good Morning” is a program that discusses the latest news in world politics, sports, science and art;
- “Fashionable Sentence” is an entertainment show in which Evelina Khromchenko, Nadezhda Babkina and Yulia Baranovskaya help women change their style;
- "Live healthy!" – Elena Malysheva’s project about human health, with experts from the world of medicine as guests;
- “Time will tell” is a socio-political talk show in which Ekaterina Strizhenova, Anatoly Kuzichev and Artyom Sheinin try to figure out what is happening in the world;
- “Let's Get Married” is a funny program about people who dream of improving their personal lives, and Larisa Guzeeva and her associates help them in this;
- “Male / Female” - a talk show about relations between men and women, hosted by Alexander Gordon and Yulia Baranovskaya;
- “Let Them Talk” is a talk show in which they discuss true stories that cannot be kept silent about, and its host is Dmitry Borisov;
- “Actually” is a talk show by Timur Eremeev, in which family relationships of guests, political and historical events are discussed;
- “Field of Miracles” is the most famous television game in Russia, in which everyone can meet Leonid Yakubovich;
- “Evening Urgant” is a project by Ivan Urgant, in which he covers the latest events in a humorous form, interviews famous guests and introduces viewers to new stars;
- “Posner” is an original TV program by journalist Vladimir Pozner, who invites politicians, public figures, athletes and artists to the studio to ask them burning questions;
- and others.
Opinion. "First Channel Ultra HD": first impressions
The football world championship, for which all this (broadcasting in Ultra HD) was started, is in full swing and it’s time to take stock of the first results regarding ultra-clear broadcasts from Russian stadiums. I would like to express my first wishes to the broadcast organizers and, perhaps, open a discussion about how best to show football matches in the 4K standard. Personally, I didn’t really like the first broadcasts. It seems that everything is really clear and could not be clearer, but...
Already on the third broadcast between Argentina and Iceland on Channel One Ultra HD, it seemed to me that something was missing in this clear picture. The first time I had this thought was while watching the Russia-Saudi Arabia match, but everything finally became clear during the match with the losers Argentines. At the same time, it became clear how the picture on Channel One UHD and Channel One HD differs. Let's look at the footage that was taken at the time of the broadcast. This is broadcast in Ultra HD:
And this is in “regular” HD:
If you look closely, in the first version you can even see the fans in the stands from the side where the match is being filmed with a video camera, while in the second version only the football field is shown. Actually, this is the creativity of the organizers of ultra-clear broadcasts - to show the match as if from the stands. At the same time, the players at such a display look very small, not very familiar for a television broadcast. But, as the organizers of the show apparently thought, there is a certain effect of presence. In fact, watching such a show on a TV even with a 55-inch diagonal is not entirely comfortable. In order to see in more detail what is happening on the football field at the time the general plan is shown, you have to either strain your eyesight or sit closer to the TV. Of course, if the viewer has a panel of 65 inches or more, then he may not pay much attention to the “pettiness” of the picture, but on TVs with a smaller diagonal, all this immediately catches the eye. It is especially problematic to watch such broadcasts on small UHD TVs with a diagonal of around 40 inches (there are also such). Therefore, such a “special” showing of a football match seems very doubtful to me personally. Not everyone has large panels or, alternatively, good eyesight. At the same time, on the HD channel, the football field was shown larger.
But this is only one of the complaints that arises about the quality of the football championship. Our foreign colleagues have big complaints not only about large or small plans, but also about the quality of the picture in general. In particular, many viewers in the UK had questions about the 4K broadcast of the England - Tunisia match. And in Germany, the quality of the broadcast of the Argentina-Iceland match was at the level of good SD, but not high definition.
Are you satisfied with the quality of football broadcasts of the World Cup in Russia?
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Films and TV series of Channel 1
Channel 1 also makes a huge contribution to the effective development of the domestic film industry, takes part in the filming and PR of many films. As examples it is worth listing:
- “Features of national hunting in winter” (2002);
- "Night Watch" (2004);
- "Day Watch" (2006);
- "The Irony of Fate. Continued" (2007);
- “High Security Vacation” (2009);
- “Yolki” (2010);
- “Vysotsky. Thank you for being alive" (2011);
- "Depth" (2015);
- and many others.
Red button. Viewers of Channel One took part in the interactive voting from the TV remote control
Image from the Channel One website
Taking a remote control and voting for a participant in a TV show - once such a scenario seemed fantastic, but now it is available to millions of owners of modern TVs. Models with HbbTV functionality combine the capabilities of TV and the Internet. The technology is successfully used on 80 TV channels in 35 countries. In recent years, the “red button service” has been actively developing in Russia.
Hybrid Broadcast Broadband Television - hybrid broadcast broadband television. In Europe, more than 44 million TVs are connected to HbbTV. In Germany, the service covers at least half of all TVs in the country, and 62% of viewers use the red button every week.
For a TV to become truly interactive, it must be connected to the Internet, receive an over-the-air digital signal and have the HbbTV function. The “Press the red button” notification invites viewers to open a window where they can see additional information and also evaluate what is happening on the air.
Interactive voting on Pervoy
On the Russian market, the advantages of HbbTV can be appreciated by the audience of Channel One. In the spring of 2021, the broadcaster launched an interactive option in the “Voice.Children” show, allowing viewers to vote for the mentors of the next season. Voting using HbbTV was carried out in two editions - on April 13 and 20. In total, 480 thousand people used interactive options, 62.5 thousand of them cast their votes for their favorite candidates.
The launch of the technology was essentially a test, since most TV viewers at that time did not yet know that new generation TVs had a similar function. Even salespeople in household appliance stores had no idea about this.
The introduction of interactivity in three Channel One projects has shown that viewers quickly master the functionality of the “red button,” and the ratio of those who see it on the screen to those who actively interact with the content is constantly growing. The average total CTR of HbbTV was 20% , a representative of the channel told Sostav. That is, every fifth viewer on whose screen a notification appeared pressed the red button.
The interactive era for Channel One began on April 13. Later, the “red button service” appeared in the game “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and in the program “Let’s Get Married.” Since May, when the interactive option was launched, almost a million viewers have played Who Wants to Be a Millionaire at least once, and 150 thousand viewers participate in the game regularly. Now every sixth viewer who sees a notification on their screen presses the red button.
Image from the Channel One website
In Let's Get Married, HbbTV allows viewers to rate the characters' choices and vote for their favorite brides and grooms. If the winners of the vote remain single at the end of the program, they get a second chance to find a partner. Since April 2021, more than 8 million viewers have participated in the “Let's Get Married” vote at least once, and 300 thousand regularly use the red button in this program.
Image from the Channel One website
Prospects for HbbTV on the Russian market
The results inspired the company, and Channel One continues the experiment in the new television season. In particular, it systematically explains to viewers why new interactive options are needed and how to use them.
“Voice 60+” viewers are invited to use the functionality of HbbTV. The audience chooses the best mentor using the red button on the remote control, in the interactive player on the Channel One website, as well as in the Voice and First mobile applications. According to the project’s producer, Yuri Aksyuta, “The Voice” is the most interactive format on Russian television.
At “Pervoy” they expect that the number of connected devices will systematically grow, since TV manufacturers should be interested in connecting this function to customers and in explaining the advantages of those models that support the technology. In addition, the growth in the number of active televisions with HbbTV will grow as a result of the expansion of the number of cable operators transmitting the digital signal of Channel One with interactive tags to their subscribers unchanged.
The broadcaster assesses the results of using HbbTV as positive. The interactive option was systematically launched in three projects, all showing a very high CTR. On the web, the average viewing time for those users who follow an interactive broadcast is 20% higher than for those who watch a regular broadcast. This suggests that TV watching time has also increased among viewers using HbbTV.
Now in the homes of Russian consumers there are already millions of devices under the brands LG, Samsung and Sony that support this technology. If domestic channels offer usage opportunities that are interesting for TV viewers and reveal the advantages of new TV models, then LG will tell its customers about them, the company’s Russian office noted.
Irina Savchenko, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Public Relations and Internet Broadcasting
HbbTV, first of all, increases the viewer’s involvement in the project - now he not only sees what we broadcast to him, but can influence what is happening on TV: he voted for candidates for mentors in the new season of the show “The Voice” - and now the voting leaders took the red chairs .
The second advantage is the combination of the first and second screens, the integration of television and the Internet. The viewer does not need to download the application or go to the website to participate in activities or find out additional information - just press the red button.
HbbTV will allow you to attract an active audience to television screens, accustomed not only to watch, but also to participate and speak out. Choose the best Mentor in the show “The Voice”, vote for the best brides and grooms, guess the correct answers in “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Additional content and interactive games will keep viewers glued to their screens long after their favorite shows have ended.
Petr Shepin, commercial director of Channel One
To continue to evolve in competition with non-linear viewing, television must adapt the best and most advanced technologies of the Internet. And the main thing that makes the Internet valuable (in every sense) to an advertiser is the ability to target an advertising message, right down to a specific individual.
HBBTV technology is our movement towards targeted advertising messages. We see the geography of advertising consumers: the algorithm will show the address of the advertiser closest to the viewer. Down to the area and street.
And the prospects are even greater, because it has become even easier to find out who your viewer is with the help of this technology. And carefully, without violating the law, we will develop targeted advertising sales with the help of HBBTV. Offering our advertisers not only coverage (in which we are the undisputed leaders), but also targeting.
Ilya Krivitsky, General Director of the Red Square media group
The functionality of Hbb TV expands the possibilities of television formats not only for viewers, but also for brands. By developing the interactive component in our programs, we are creating a new platform for direct communication between the brand and the consumer. For example, in “Fashion Sentence” you can not only discuss and evaluate a new clothing collection, but also take part in an advertising campaign, look at beauty accessories or healthy eating. And in the show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” viewers find additional questions and new games, immediately gain access to e-books, thematic video content, take part in competitions or even place bets. Direct contact with the consumer, promotions of discounts and quick purchases, expanded information about the product in multimedia format - all this allows you to effectively expand classic television content into an interactive platform for communication and entertainment, with a virtual showroom and online store, developing a completely new, understandable modern consumers a channel of marketing communications.
Yulia Koneva, Director of Strategic Marketing and Integrated Communications of VimpelCom PJSC
We are watching the development of HbbTV technology with interest, but for now we assess it as niche. VimpelCom plans to test HbbTV in one of its upcoming advertising campaigns. If the results satisfy us, this will become one of our new tools for interacting with the audience.
The first and main barrier for us as advertisers is the low penetration of TVs and set-top boxes with HbbTV support in Russia. According to various estimates, Russians have from one to several million such devices in their hands. Considering the number of people officially living in our country, the difference is significant.
In addition, targeting accuracy in such conditions may be low. Consequently, it is impossible for a brand to target offers that are important to talk about in more detail while watching TV.
However, we also see an indisputable advantage - the technology will allow us to assess the involvement of viewers in communication: measure the degree of attention, their involvement, audience response to TV advertising, etc.
Mikhail Gorbuntsov, media director of Tinkoff Bank
Yes, I heard about HbbTV, there are proposals, but they are not yet specific. As an online bank, we always look at the cost of conversion. If this format generates high-quality traffic that turns into real applications for our products, we will consider it as one of the acquisition channels.
Channel One News
Channel One is a real window to the world. Every day, qualified journalists prepare news reports and live broadcasts so that viewers are aware of all events in Russia and the world. The names of news specialists are familiar to everyone - Ekaterina Berezovskaya, Maxim Sharafutdinov, Valeria Korableva, Sergei Tugushev and Andrey Ukharev.
✔On our resource, every broadcast of Channel One is available in good quality and free of charge. You can watch your favorite TV shows and the latest news online anytime and anywhere.
