Business programme

Bloggers today are able to convey their views and perspectives to a broad audience, and hold considerable influence. Indeed, many of them have become opinion leaders. It would therefore be wrong to ignore this fact and deny their professional status. Bloggers should be able to receive fair compensation for their work, and they should also assume responsibility for their actions. Should bloggers be made to register as media outlets? Another factor to consider is online advertising, which continues to enjoy strong annual growth, and currently almost matches television in terms of quantity in Russia. As a result, regulation is becoming an increasingly pressing issue. What place do bloggers occupy in the media holding company ecosystem? What talent-development opportunities can the blogosphere offer young people? And can traditional and new media coexist and complement one another?

Moderator
Ksenia Sobchak, Journalist, TV presenter

Ksenia Sobchak

Journalist, TV presenter

Panellists
Artur Janibekyan, Founder, Comedy Club Production
Alexander Zharov, Chief Executive Officer, Gazprom-Media Holding
Alexander Zhuravsky, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for Public Projects
Sergey Minaev, Editor-in-Chief, Esquire Russia
Vyacheslav Murugov, General Director, CTC Media; Deputy General Director for Entertainment Broadcasting, National Media Group; President, NMG Studio

Artur Janibekyan

Founder, Comedy Club Production

Since 2015 - General Director, GPM Entertainment.
2011 to 2015 – General Director of Comedy Club Production. TNT television channel acquired Comedy Club Production in 2011.
2008 – Launched the entertainment channel Comedy TV, now called TNT-Comedy.
2007 – Named “Producer of the Year,” according to the Russian edition of GQ magazine.
2006 – Founded Comedy Club Production, a diversified production company that supplies an overwhelming majority of television series and entertainment shows to TNT channel, including Comedy Club, Comedy Woman, Tantsy (Dances), Odnazhdy v Rossii (Once Upon a time in Russia), Stand-Up, Comedy Battle, Nasha Russia (Our Russia), Univer, Interns and others. The same year, Artur Janibekyan established the company 7 ART, which releases the successful television series Univer (since 2006) and Interns (since 2009), and also produced the show Nasha Russia.
2003 – Founded the show Comedy Club in partnership with his colleagues from the TV Show KVN (Club of the Funny and Inventive). The release of Comedy Club introduced an entirely new genre of stand-up comedy to Russian television viewers. TNT channel started broadcasting the show on April 23, 2005.
2001 to 2002 – Producer of Dobry Vecher s Igorem Ugolnikovym (Evening Show with Igor Ugolnikov) on the STS television channel.
2000 to 2005 – Producer of the program Novoye Armyanskoe Radio (New Armenian Radio) on Russkoe Radio.
1994 – Became one of the founders and leaders of the KVN improv team Novye Armyane (New Armenians), which went on to become the KVN higher league champions in 1997 and the KVN super-champions in 1998.
1993 to 1996 – Worked as a poster distributor, administrator, project coordinator and film crew director on a variety of television programs in Armenia.
Artur Janibekyan was born in Yerevan on February 29, 1976. He completed his studies at a special physics-mathematics school under the Yerevan State University and later received a degree in economic cybernetics from the Yerevan State University.

Alexander Zharov

Chief Executive Officer, Gazprom-Media Holding

Alexander Zharov was born on August 11, 1964 in Chelyabinsk, Russia. In 1987 he graduated from Chelyabinsk State Medical University, and worked in his specialty area from 1987 through 1996. From 1998 to 1999, he served as advisor to the Chairman of the Board of RIA Vesti. From 1999 to 2004, he was the press-secretary of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation.
In January 2004 he defended his thesis, titled “Promotion of a healthy lifestyle”. From 2004 to 2006, he was the assistant and later press-secretary to Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov. In 2006 he graduated from the law faculty of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. From 2006 to 2007, he worked as the deputy general manager of the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK). From 2007 to 2008, he was the director of the press service, information and protocol department in the Russian Government. In 2008, he was appointed deputy minister of the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation. On May 3, 2012, by decree of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin No. 702-p Alexander Zharov was appointed head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor). As of March 24, 2020, he is the CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding. Acting State Advisor of the Russian Federation, 1st Class. Awarded the Order of Honour, the Order “For Merit to the Fatherland” IV degree, and the Order of Alexander Nevsky. He is proficient in English and French. Married, has six children.

Alexander Zhuravsky

Deputy Head of the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for Public Projects

Sergey Minaev

Editor-in-Chief, Esquire Russia

Author, scriptwriter, journalist, television and radio host, businessmen, and Editor-In-Chief of Esquire Magazine Russia.

Sergey Minaev’s debut novel Dukhless (Soulless), released in 2006, became a CIS bestseller, selling a total of over 1 million copies. Soulless, the film based on the novel, was released in 2012 with Danila Kozlovsky playing the leading role. It earned RUB 161.2 million in the first weekend. Universal Pictures, the film’s distributor, noted that Soulless had recordbreaking initial revenue among Russian films.

He hosted the Saturday radio show Tantsy c volkami (Dances with Wolves) on Radio Mayak until 2011, for which he won a Radiomania 2010 award in the category ‘Talk Show Host’.

He hosted the shows Chestny ponedel’nik (Honest Monday) and Bol’shinstvo (Majority) on NTV, the political talk show Pravo znat’ (Right to Know) on TV Centre, and launched the internet show Minaev LIVE and the television channel Kontr TV.

He was appointed Editor-in-Chief of Esquire Magazine Russia in October 2016. In 2019, he launched a personal channel on YouTube, where he regularly posts news reviews and historical lectures.

From January to April 2021, the online platforms Wink and more.tv released a six-episode docuseries by Sergey Minaev called Devyanostye (The Nineties).

Vyacheslav Murugov

General Director, CTC Media; Deputy General Director for Entertainment Broadcasting, National Media Group; President, NMG Studio

Front row participants
Konstantin Zarutskiy, Blogger
Alexey Savko, Blogger
Andrey Tsyper, Executive Director of Media, Rambler&Co

Konstantin Zarutskiy

Blogger

Alexey Savko

Blogger

Andrey Tsyper

Executive Director of Media, Rambler&Co

Executive Director of Media, Rambler&Co (federal online media Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru; Sekret Firmy, Ferra, Motor, Letidor, and other projects); General Director of Lenta.ru LLC, General Director of Gazeta.ru JSC, General Director of Rambler Group LLC.

Andrey Tsyper joined the Rambler&Co team in 2013. One year later he became Head of the Partnership Programmes Department. He was appointed the Rambler&Co Executive Director of Media in March 2018. Andrey has vast leadership experience with front-line Russian media and media organizations: prior to joining Rambler&Co, he held various offices at Izvestia, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the RBC Group, Interfax, and communications agencies.