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If I saw a headline like the one above, my first question would probably be: “Is there really any demand for Ukrainian TV in the US?” A definite ‘yes’ would be an answer. In this article, we’d like to figure out what is the situation with Ukrainian television in USA and why it should really matter.

Why so much buzz around Ukrainian TV?

Just imagine for a moment that there are almost a million of people of Ukrainian origin currently residing in the States, with about 300,000 of those actually born in Ukraine. That’s about 0,35% of the American population, making the Ukrainian expat community in the US the second largest outside the former Soviet republics, with Canada holding the first place. The most popular regions in the USA for Ukrainian Americans are NYC, Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Cleveland, and Indianapolis.

It comes as no surprise, as Ukrainian immigration to the US started in the 1880s, with the largest wave coming after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

This altogether creates a high demand for Ukrainian media on the American territory. Because even those who assimilated with the American culture, want to keep updated on recent news from their homeland (or country of origin). Nevertheless, the Ukrainian TV in USA is still pretty difficult to find, forcing people to look for alternative sources of information.                                       

Ways to watch Ukrainian television in USA

Unfortunately, Ukrainian TV in USA is not represented as much as Latin or even Russian programming. Certainly, American Ukrainians cannot be compared in number to the expat communities mentioned before. At the same time, it is still a large community bearing its own cultural peculiarities and, hence, in need of quality media, especially given the rise of national identity in recent years. So, here are some of the options available at the moment.

Ukrainian TV adopted to the American reality

This is a very close niche, specializing in catering TV content specially for Ukrainians living abroad. Basically, it is embodied by several channels broadcasting from the USA.

One of the more well-known examples of it is UA9 TV – a channel airing programmes and presenting informational materials both in Ukrainian and English. It is positioned as a TV channel for Ukrainians living in the USA and Canada, while its programming is mainly found on the Internet.

The UA9 TV channel covers breaking news and recent events in Ukraine and the Northern America. Interviews with well-known people, as well as entertainment programs, including music section and talk shows.

Ukrainian TV on YouTube

Like many international channels, major Ukrainian nationwide channels have their channels on YouTube. Among them are 1+1 Channel, STB, Novyi Kanal, and a bunch of news channels, including Espreso.TV, NewsOne, 24 Channel, etc.

If news channels cover most of its aired content online, top Ukrainian TV channels are pretty selective when it comes to posting any content online, available to the general public.

STB, for instance, generally posts only entertainment shows. Nevertheless, it seems pretty successful in that having around 860,000 subscribers and more than 625,000,000 views in total. It seems that it managed to find its most popular format, which is now demonstrated through different ways.

One of the biggest issues in terms of watching Ukrainian TV on YouTube is that there’s a gap between the time when the video is broadcast on the national TV and uploaded online. So, if you want to keep in the loop on the most recent information, this option won’t probably suit you. Besides, some channels restrict the viewership only to Ukraine, which makes some videos unavailable in the USA.

Tunnel software tools

Though considered an unofficial (and often restricted) option, tunnel software tools, also known as virtual protected networks (VPN) are one of the few options to access regional television while abroad.

VPN is generally a way to extend a private network by transmitting data through several proxy-servers, which allows disguising your computer IP and essentially “change” the physical location of your laptop. For example, using the US server you can pretend that you’re in the US, in fact remaining in Ukraine, and vice versa.

VPN allows to bend the restrictions of content provided only within a specific region and watch it wherever you are. Sounds pretty fun , doesn’t it? But… There are several drawbacks.

First of all, using VPN is illegal in some countries, resulting in the ban of some networks. One of the famous cases was when Russia and China banned certain VPN providers. This is not surprising as VPNs are sometimes used to commit some actions beyond the law and are not very safe in that sense.

Besides, your Internet will be way slower than it usually is, since every byte of downloaded content will not go to your computer directly but will be transmitted through additional servers, making its journey longer. So chances are you will not be able to watch your favorite Ukrainian shows in HD.

Oh, and the last thing. Ukrainian servers are not really popular so they might be available only with a premium subscription, which will cost you an additional couple of bucks.

NOTE: Use VPNs at your own risk as we cannot fully guarantee their safety.

Ukrainian channels on IPTV

Although there are several other options available, IPTV providers bringing the largest variety of Ukrainian TV to the interested people in the USA. With most Ukrainian channels available for online streaming, IPTV remains well ahead of the competition both in terms of quality and quantity of online programming.

Though most IPTV providers are paid, the service fee is generally very affordable, starting at $10/month for premium subscription plans. Besides, many offer a free trial or plan with a limited number of channels.

Yet, one of the most common problems of IPTV is the outdated interface of most services. If you look through a couple of first results on Google result pages, you’ll notice that most of the found sites are rather poorly designed, looking like an echo from the 90s. No need to say that the quality of content also leaves much to be desired. The people who introduced them onto the market were more focused on filling the niche than making a product worthy of Netflix-addicted generation.

That was one of the reasons why we created Mediacast – a streaming service meeting the demands of the modern times. Though the TV itself always came first for us. We tried to make the entire customer journey more pleasant. Hence, intuitive interface, clear pricing (both free and paid subscription plans), compatibility with most digital devices. And, finally, the largest collection of Ukrainian TV channels online.

Summary

Although, Ukrainian expat community in the USA is pretty large and is only growing with the times, there are not many media publicly available there. We tried to gather the most popular ways to watch Ukrainian television in USA, neither of which is flawless.

Yet, when it comes to value for money, we’d recommend IPTV providers, as they store the largest collection of Ukrainian TV programs online, making it available all around the world. So even if you happen to be far from your homeland, you can always count on those when you decide to mix your HBO or Netflix programming a little.

If you know any other ways to watch Ukrainian television in USA, please share them in the comments below.

Over the last decade, we’ve experienced a drastic change in the way we receive and use the content. Take millennials, for instance. They now watch more content on the Internet than on TV, with 20% of their traffic coming from mobiles. Given such a tangible difference in content consumption, we’d like to present some takeaways from entertainment market growth analysis as for 2017.

How is TV transforming?

Television is, therefore, also transforming. Streaming channels have come into place, and more than 60% of people use them on a monthly basis, according to Deloitte.

Now, most traditional TV media have an online version, allowing everyone to watch their favorite shows from their browsers. The emergence of over-the-top (OTT) providers has also to do with that. Thanks to them, television is no longer linked to a particular location, becoming international in nature.

Besides, OTT providers have shaped new ad-free media channels, available for subscription. Therefore, customers can choose themselves whether to watch conventional TV, according to a weekly program or pay a relatively small amount of money to get their content in the most convenient form and time.

Content sharing without borders

OTT makes a truly borderless world of content, where you are no longer tied to a certain place. Not that long ago, people from different countries lived behind the closed doors. All the content they received through TV was predominantly national, with some international channels available with cable television. However, some less famous regional channels were shown solely to the inhabitants of that very channel.

Look at the Ukrainians and Russians living in the North America, for example. These people can watch Ukrainian and Russian TV channels online wherever they are. A real home away from home.

TIP: See the most popular Russian and Ukrainian TV channels here.

This is a win-win for consumers and content creators. While customers receive the chosen content where they want it the most, advertisers acquire a good deal of data about their location, interests, activities, and preferences, thereby ensuring a truly personalized brand-customer communication. Thus, you no longer show your ad to a general audience but align it to the needs of a particular customer. However, a company will require a quality data analysis so as to find the right target audience based on the information they provide.

How is OTT challenging the status quo?

OTT is already changing the future of entertainment market. Using smart TVs and direct access to the Internet, customers can now use all the benefits of online television without conventional operators.

However, OTT is even more than that. In mobile space, consumers no longer need traditional messaging provided by cellphone operators, thanks to various messengers, including  WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook Messenger or media-sharing services like Instagram or Snapchat.

All this results in a brand-new marketing. Brands are embarking on a new way of promotion through OTT channels.  However, this requires extra effort as the environment and customer expectations in this field are quite different from conventional marketing. As a matter of fact, companies will have to rethink their organization in order to succeed in the new domain.

They will have to think like a media agency and try new ways of promotion, given the ad-free approach of many OTT providers. That’s where the value should come first. Customers using OTT channels want to see a clear value of the offer. Besides, a greater emphasis should be put into re-marketing to undecided prospects rather than marketing to existing clients.

The decline of the film industry?

Similar to television, film industry undergoes severe changes, and not always for good. Due to the economic instability, rise of digital channels, and overall transformation of the entertainment market, film industry has to adapt.

Since the emergence of live streaming television and OTT providers, it has faced the increased competition. Customers who used to spend their money at the cinema now would rather buy a subscription to IPTV and watch whatever they want on-demand. Moreover, user-generated content is gaining momentum, covering broader audience on YouTube, Vimeo, Tumblr, and so on. Oh, not to forget about an even greater number of viewers getting used to ad-free content, hence decreasing potential revenues of filmmakers. Streams and on-demand video are constantly carving a greater market share, while many ordinary people ditch movie theatres for video content they can watch at home.

Another issue has to do with security reasons. Pirates are becoming more active with the time, often leaking original movies into the Internet even before the end of the premiere week, disrupting financial expectations of producers.

These factors altogether lead to reduced financing of filmmaking and moving budgets to more rapidly developing formats (take TV series, for instance) so as to cater to shifting tastes of a broader audience.

Finally, filmed entertainment has recently been subject to reduced financing and a need to convert heavier video into newer web-friendly formats.

Summing Up

The rising popularity of OTT channels and on-demand content has resulted in the overall internationalization of content on the one hand, and the need to rethink traditional advertising – on the other.

The impact of this change is seen in the way people consume content, gradually shifting to shorter easier-to-digest formats available wherever they go.

Although this may be potentially harmful to filmed entertainment industry, the positives will still outweigh the negatives. People who previously had little choice between TV and movie theater can now enjoy the plethora of other options.

This is particularly true for expats and migrants forced to leave their motherhood. Thanks to OTT providers and IPTV, they will no longer depend on traditional TV and can watch their favorite channels or programs wherever they want.