Rutube’s daily audience could reach at least 35 million users by the end of 2026, according to Alexander Zharov, CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding, who outlined the platform’s development strategy during a briefing with journalists. The growth forecast is part of a broader plan to strengthen Rutube’s position through ecosystem expansion and deeper integration with other Gazprom-Media digital assets.
Rutube currently reaches around 26 million daily users and 85 million monthly users, with the platform showing steady growth over the past year. Zharov described a recent milestone for the service, noting that Rutube has already surpassed YouTube in daily audience figures in Russia on at least one occasion. According to Mediascope data, on 9 December 2025 Rutube attracted 23.8 million daily users, compared with 22.3 million for YouTube.
The company attributes Rutube’s growth to systematic work on product development and promotion. In 2025, the platform focused on improving search functionality, recommendation algorithms, and marketing strategy. Over the year, views of recommended videos increased fivefold. More than one million videos are uploaded to the platform each day, with moderation taking between 20 minutes and two hours, supported by automated systems using artificial intelligence. The team’s next objective is to further increase viewing time and audience engagement.
Alongside audience growth, Gazprom-Media is consolidating its digital video services around Rutube as a core brand. The short-form video service Yappy has already been transformed into Rutube Shorts, operating on a shared technology base with a unified recommendation system and short-video format. The legal merger of Yappy and Rutube is expected to be completed in spring 2026.
At the same time, Gazprom-Media is moving toward closer integration with its online cinema Premier. While Premier will continue to operate as a separate brand due to its subscription-based model—contrasting with Rutube’s advertising-driven approach—the company plans to link the services technologically. This would allow users to move seamlessly from short videos on Rutube to long-form content on Premier. Zharov did not rule out deeper integration in the future, but said that any full merger would be considered at a later stage.
Together, these steps position Rutube as the central pillar of Gazprom-Media’s digital video strategy, combining audience growth, short-form content, and premium long-form programming within a single expanding ecosystem.