Ukrainian OTT platforms MEGOGO and Kyivstar TV, which are among the three largest in the market, have signed a one-year co-exclusive agreement with the international media service Paramount+ with the potential for extension up to three years, which provides for the expansion of the library of Paramount+ movies, series, animation and premiere titles on both platforms.
“We are talking about more than 200 films, 1250 hours of animation and dozens of popular TV series – all with Ukrainian language tracks. This is one of the largest localizations of global content for the Ukrainian market in recent times,” the company said in a press release on Wednesday.
According to the press release, Kyivstar TV and MEGOGO are investing equally in voice acting to ensure high-quality and timely dubbing. 1+1 Production, MEGOGO Voice, Sunnysiders and 15KZ studios are working on the adaptation. Most of the main titles will be dubbed at the launch, while the rest will appear gradually.
On Kyivstar TV, Paramount+ content will be available in Premium HD and Family packages, as well as in a special themed Paramount+ Kids playlist.
On MEGOGO, it will be available as part of the Maximum and Optimal subscriptions, as well as MEGOPACK XL.
According to the announcement, starting July 1, the platforms will offer such titles as Dexter, Elementary, Yellowstone, all 8 seasons of Charmed, Billions, and within a month, Halo, The King of Tulsa, 1923, and the new series The Agency will also open. In addition to movies and TV series, viewers will have access to an extensive library of animated episodes, from SpongeBob to Puppy Patrol to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
MEGOGO is an international media service founded in 2011 in Kyiv. It is a leader among OTT platforms in Ukraine, operates in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the South Caucasus, and a significant part of its catalog is available worldwide (except for Russia and Belarus).
Kyivstar TV is a joint project of Kyivstar and 1+1 media, founded on December 11, 2019. At the end of last year, the project announced that it had become the second largest streaming platform in Ukraine and maintained its leadership ambitions.
Last year, Ukrainian media service MEGOGO maintained its investments in Ukrainian-language dubbing at UAH 38 million, having created 3,825 hours of content at its own studio and in cooperation with partners, the press service of the media service reports.
“The company continued to invest heavily in Ukrainian-language dubbing, allocating UAH 38 million for this purpose, as in 2023. At its own MEGOGO VOICE studio and in cooperation with partners, 3825 hours of Ukrainian dubbing were created for film, TV series, children’s and other content,” the MEGOGO press service said in a statement on Thursday.
The year 2024 was a year of significant achievements for MEGOGO, the statement said.
The service became the official broadcaster of UEFA EURO 2024, broadcast the Olympic Games in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery with commentary in Ukrainian, and showed two fights between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. In addition, MEGOGO launched the MEGOGO SPORT TV channel in T2 (the abbreviated name for the DVB-T2 (Digital Video Broadcasting – Second Generation Terrestrial) standard), entered into a partnership with the Netflix streaming platform and the international sports channel Setanta, the statement said.
During the year, the MEGOGO library was replenished with 6 thousand units of new content in VOD and LIVE.
Users spent an average of one hour a day with MEGOGO, i.e. 365 hours a year. Smart TV became the most popular viewing device, and the most used emoji on interactive TV was the flag of Ukraine, the MEGOGO press service reported.
Last year, the service updated its functionality by launching its own recommendation system, updating games on Smart TV and the MEGOGO VR app, and expanding interactive features on TV channels.
As part of the service’s ecosystem development, MEGOGO BOOKS, an online bookstore with paper books, was opened.
MEGOGO’s anti-piracy department excluded 527 thousand pages of pirated websites from Google search results, removed more than 140 thousand pirated copies of content and transferred more than 195 thousand links to pirated copies of content to its partners for blocking.
In addition, the media service’s specialists removed 14 outlets from the marketplaces, closed 75 groups and channels in messengers and 303 communities in social networks. More than 19 thousand unique links to pirated football broadcasts were removed. They also removed over 1.3 thousand links to pirated martial arts broadcasts. MEGOGO specialists performed the largest amount of work during two championship fights between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, the statement said.
Earlier it was reported that MEGOGO entered the Romanian market.
Megogo media service was founded in Kyiv in 2011. The service’s media library includes TV channels, movies, TV series, cartoons and games, educational and blogging content, audiobooks, podcasts and radio. In Ukraine, Megogo offers 390 channels with shows, series, and programs, 15 thousand movies, and 900 audiobooks. The content is available on popular iOS, Android, Smart and Android TV platforms, players and set-top boxes with Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, XBOX One, and Sony PlayStation. Before entering Romania, the media service was available in 14 countries. In February 2023, the company entered the Polish market.
The international charitable organization Parimatch Foundation launches a new product for children as a part of its Mental Health program — therapeutic art coloring to overcome stressful situations. The project was created with the participation of the Institute of Cognitive Modeling, under the authorship and methodology of expert Victoria Nazarevich.
The children’s coloring book is based on Victoria Nazarevych’s author’s methodology. She is a practicing psychologist with 25 years of experience working with children, a professor at the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy of Kyiv International University, a Candidate in Psychological Sciences, and a child psychology and art therapy expert.
A detailed set of therapeutic coloring exercises is developed and based on the principles of play therapy, which allows parents to help their child without the additional involvement of psychologists when he or she is stressed, angered, afraid or withdrawn.
The manual is based on the use of art therapy and fairy tale therapy techniques that have already proven their effectiveness in working with children who have experienced traumatic stress disorder.
— War and any changes, in general, make children feel disorder or inner chaos. Therefore, in such cases, adults should offer the child a system of internal self-regulation that will help to cope with the state when it is tough inside and the child does not understand what is happening. Art therapy is excellent in stressful situations when you need to relieve bodily tension. Therefore, when it is difficult for a child and he or she feels a burden inside, the coloring book offers several effective exercises that will help to cope with stress, — says Victoria Nazarevych.
The coloring book consists of 10 tasks, each of which helps the child to cope with different emotions and states. You can find and download free art coloring on the Parimatch Foundation website — preferably in A3 or A4 formats alongside step-by-step video instructions and advice from a qualified psychologist Victoria Nazarevych. Video guides added on the website will help to clarify conditions and emotions when a child may need a particular section of the coloring.
To work, you will need colored pencils and a little patience to accompany the child at each stage of the tasks proposed in the coloring book. Adults need to be close, supportive, and interested in the child’s impressions: what was annoying, upsetting, or, conversely, what the kid liked the most while drawing.
Art coloring will be useful for parents and guardians, teachers, educators, volunteers of children’s centers, social workers, curators of children’s programs, inclusive assistants, and teacher-defectologists. As well as for helping professionals who are in direct interaction with the child and ensure his mental, moral and physical well-being. The project complements several products that are already helping Ukrainian children not only in Ukraine but also abroad, where many families who were forced to leave the country are now.
It should be noted that since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the international charitable organization Parimatch Foundation has been making efforts to help the children of Ukraine. One of the main areas of work is psychological support for children affected by russian aggression. Recently, the Foundation presented the first Ukrainian-language collection of children’s audio fairy tales «Secret stories of small and big victories» as a part of its Mental Health program. You can listen to the audiobook for free on the ABUK platform, in the «Audio» section of the MEGOGO application on iOS and Android smartphones, and cars with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay audio systems.
