ivi.ru was launched on February 26, 2010, and attracted more than 180,000 users on the first day, making it one of the most successful start-ups among Russian Internet companies.[1] At the time, ivi.ru was owned by founder Oleg Tumanov and Leonid Boguslavsky's company ru-Net. In 2010, Vladimir Potanin's media holding ProfMedia was brought in as a financial investor. ivi.ru raised more money in 2011 from the international technology investment fund Tiger Global Management.[2]
In 2012, the streaming service raised $40 million in another round of funding. The investment was attracted from Baring Vostok, a private equity firm, along with existing investors ru-Net, Tiger Group, ProfMedia, and Frontier Ventures. The funds were used to build out the company's technology, as well as its content catalogue.[3]
Services
ivi.ru operates three online video streaming services: ivi.ru, deti.ivi.ru, and music.ivi.ru:
ivi.ru is an online video streaming service offering access to licensed movies, TV series, and other video content. A user can watch videos through a user-friendly media player.
music.ivi.ru, launched on October 4, 2010, is an online video streaming service which allows users to create customised music and video playlists from a library of more than 28,000 titles[4] based on their preferences.
deti.ivi.ru, launched on October 20, 2012, is a unique online video streaming service for kids, which offers more than 9,000 cartoons and movies free of charge. The service is child-friendly, protecting young users from exposure to inappropriate content.[5]
Content
ivi.ru discourages the proliferation of illegal video and music content amongst Russian Internet users by promoting and offering high quality and easily accessible licensed videos without malware.[6]
97% of content on ivi.ru’s website is free of charge and can be accessed without registration, while the remaining 3% represents the latest movie premiers and the best titles from majors’ catalogues that can be viewed by subscribing to a premium ivi+ service.
In 2012, ivi.ru became the first online video service in Europe streaming licensed content from all major Hollywood content producers.[7]
Since 2018, the service produces original series and movies.[citation needed]
Devices
Users can access content through multiple mobile platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Bada, Symbian and Smart TVs applications for LG, Samsung, Philips, Toshiba, Sony and Panasonic. ivi.ru’s application is pre-installed on STBs as well as devices by Fly, Sony, Acer, Rover Computers, iconBIT, Rolsen, Qumo, inch, PocketBook, Supra, Lexand.[8] ivi.ru was also available on Xbox 360, the home game console by Microsoft.
^IVI.RU на бюджетных планшетниках, 2012 - 15:50 (July 3, 2013). "Rolsen | Computer Bild". Computerbild.ru. Archived from the original on August 19, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)