VK Video overtakes blocked YouTube in Russian reach since mid-2025, Mediascope says
Some 61 million people in Russia open VKontakte every day, nearly half of the population over 12, and Mediascope now says its video arm has passed blocked YouTube in reach since mid-2025. VK Video launched in 2021 with a red logo and a YouTube-style layout. The relaunch followed a change of ownership: Sogaz and Gazprombank, both tied to Yuri Kovalchuk, described as part of Vladimir Putin's inner circle, took control of VK in late 2021 and installed Vladimir Kiriyenko, son of deputy presidential chief of staff Sergei Kiriyenko, as chief executive. The Bell and Meduza reported that officials wanted the platform built into a "YouTube killer" and a digital version of Channel One. VK bought production house Medium Quality in 2022 and signed contracts with popular comedians and bloggers to build original shows, though former employees told Meduza and Bumaga that pirated films and adult content still make up much of what people watch, and the platform's movie section carries unofficial releases such as Christopher Nolan's "Odyssey."
Reach planning for the Russian market now runs through VK Video's numbers first, since Mediascope puts the platform ahead of blocked YouTube from mid-2025 onward. Its inventory sits next to pirated content, reused political video and a search filter that returns nothing for the term "LGBT." VK has also pulled individual clips, including blogger EVG's video about the Max messenger and Badcomedian's review of "Fifty Shades of Grey," so brand safety reviews for VK need a checklist of their own, separate from anything built for YouTube. Mediascope's own data limits how far that caution needs to go: only 4% of the searches Russians still run on YouTube touch social or political topics, with more than half going to music, entertainment and games, so the audience movement measured here is largely an entertainment shift.