The anniversary Telemultimedia Forum 2026 has ended in Moscow

The tenth annual Telemultimedia Forum 2026 took place in Moscow. Leaders of the digital media sphere". The event was organized by Telesputnik, TMT Conferences and the information and analytical agency TelecomDaily with the support of the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation. Experts from the telecom market, representatives of major media companies, and heads of online cinemas met at the forum.

For the tenth year in a row, the Telemultimedia Forum has been an expert platform for discussing the future of media consumption and television viewing. The main objectives of the forum include forecasting market development, sharing experiences in attracting and retaining an audience, increasing loyalty and improving customer experience, and integrating new technologies, formats, and services.

The forum opened with a plenary discussion on "Media World 2026: Continuous transformation and Crisis resilience, technological leadership and new growth points." The participants discussed how to build "antifragile" ecosystems capable of adapting to any changes, caring for the user, working to increase the value of the offer and improve the customer experience.

Yulia Golubeva, Deputy General Director of Gazprom Media Holding, called AI "both a friend and an enemy at the same time." She stressed that the introduction of artificial intelligence leads to a complete reformatting of the media business model, since AI uses human-created content for its algorithms for free, depriving publications of traffic and earnings.

"We are trying to have a dialogue with development companies, but our position is not taken into account in any way. To be honest, there is not a very constructive dialogue and a clash of positions on the sidelines," Yulia Golubeva noted.

Tricolor Marketing Director Mikhail Grin reviewed the case of the March Express-AT1 satellite accident, which left residents of several regions of Russia without television. In addition to Tricolor's customers, subscribers of NTV Plus and Russian World operators were also affected. In this crisis moment, according to the expert, there was an "extraordinary cooperation" between the entire telecom industry and the Ministry of Finance. Grigory Kuzin, director of the Medialogistics project, added that the accident had hit the operators of the Far East particularly hard.

Anton Volodkin, CEO of Wink, Dmitry Pashutin, Director of Strategy at National Media Group, and Pavel Sukhovarov, Commercial Director of KION, discussed cooperation between telecom companies and online cinemas. According to the participants, the convergence of streaming projects with television will continue. In parallel, the cost of subscriptions will continue to rise. Mikhail Grin, in particular, noted that users are "tired of a large number of subscriptions.":

"Collaborations are a natural stage in the evolution of our market. At Tricolor, we were the first on the market to launch a subscription, which combined three major online cinemas at once: Tricolor Cinema and TV, PREMIER and Amediateka. Kinopoisk also changed its development vector and, in fact, became a showcase for the sale of subscriptions to other online services. But for us, the priority is to involve partners in our ecosystem," said Mikhail Grin.

The second session of "Online video services: The market, models and retention strategies" also touched upon the topic of online cinemas. The key thesis of the meeting was the slowdown in the real growth of online cinema subscribers, hidden behind the apparent growth of the market as a whole.

Evgeny Uryupin, Product Director of the Tricolor Cinema and TV online cinema, noted that the company is trying to provide viewers with the most convenient service in order to compete in the attention economy and keep users inside the ecosystem.

"We are carefully developing the direction of original content and actively exploring the possibilities of using artificial intelligence in the production and promotion of projects. Currently, the online cinema is at the stage of revising its product and strategic concept: initially, the service was largely focused on Tricolor's internal subscriber base, but today we face the task of going beyond it and becoming a prominent player for a wider audience," explained Evgeny Uryupin.

The representative of VGTRK and the general producer of the "We are Watching" platform, Lily Sherozia, noted that the attention of the audience of TV and online services intersects - television content is also popular with the Internet audience.

David Kocharov, general producer of the Premier online cinema and RuTube video hosting, believes that users positively perceive services that combine all content — paid and free, entertainment, news, and professional. At the same time, he noted that the market is no longer growing, the number of users of online services remains the same, and the services themselves are moving from fighting for an audience to retaining it.

"The number of people who spend money on online cinemas is no longer growing. We used to fight for subscribers, to win them over. After people were distributed among online cinemas, there was a struggle for a second subscription. The average subscriber's lifetime is 3-4 months, sometimes 5-6 months," said David Kocharov.

The third, legal, session of the forum was devoted to the topic "Content under control: new challenges for the industry." Independent lawyer Alexandra Maksimova noted that today it is more important than ever for lawyers to immerse themselves in content creation, to advise directors, producers and cameramen. In her opinion, this is due to the regular introduction of many changes to legislation, such as the entry into force of Decree No. 942 of the Ministry of Culture, which introduced a procedure for revoking previously issued rental licenses if they reveal the presence of prohibited information.

Alexey Byrdin, General Director of the Internet Video Association, agreed that the process of creating new content is unpredictable: at the initial stages of production, there are no guarantees that the picture will not violate any values. He suggested that content creators consult with government agencies, such as the Cinema Foundation or the Internet Development Institute.

Maria Shcherbal, CEO of Wanta Group, said that it is difficult for lawyers to predict what Russians will see in some content. According to her, the same films are perceived differently by more loyal residents of Moscow and traditional residents of the southern regions, as well as by different generations.

The last session, "Man-Made: Content, Craft, Advertising, and Algorithms in the Age of AI," gathered experts around the question of whether artificial intelligence can be trusted to work on creative ideas and the very essence of storytelling. Nikolai Orlov, Director of Strategic Development at Tricolor, presented an AI project dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the Decembrist Uprising. With the help of neural networks, it was possible to "revive" the participants of those events, and in their words tell the audience the story of their lives — and on behalf of both the "young" and "aged" versions.

At the same time, the market is now oversaturated with junk AI content, the so-called neuroslope. But really high-quality, creative content will not be blurred by such garbage noise, the session participants summarized. "Telemultimedia Forum 2026. Leaders of the digital Media Sphere" ended with networking in the lounge area and informal communication between the participants. The conference was attended by over 120 people, including representatives of the professional community and leading industry experts. The participants and speakers noted the high level of the event, as well as the importance and relevance of the issues raised. All participants of the meeting expressed confidence in the need to hold a "Telemedicine Forum" next year.