Gazprom Media is the largest Russian media conglomerate, owner of almost 20 television and radio channels, digital platforms and some print publications.
Media assets
Television: NTV (НТВ), Match TV (Матч ТВ), TNT (ТНТ), TV-3 (ТВ-3), Friday! (Пятница!), NTV Style (НТВ-Стиль), NTV Law (НТВ-Право), NTV Series (НТВ-Сериал), NTV HIT (НТВ-Хит), Match Premier (Матч! Премьер), Match! Arena (Матч! Арена), Match! Game (Матч! Игра), Match! Planet (Матч! Планета), Match! Football 1 (Матч! Футбол 1), Match! Football 2, Match! Football 3, KHL TV, KHL TV HD, Match! Fight (Матч! Боец), Horse World (Конный мир), Match! Country (Матч! Страна), Saturday! (Суббота!), TNT4 (ТНТ4), 2×2, Kinohit, Kinokomediya, Kinomix, Kinopremiera, Kinosemya, Kinoseriya, Kinosvidaniye, Muzhskoe Kino, Nashe Novoe Kino, Indijskoe Kino, Rodnoe Kino, Kinouzhas, India, Kitchen TV, 365 Days TV, HDL, La Minor TV, Russian Night
Radio: Radio Energy, Autoradio, Humor FM (Юмор FM), Comedy Radio, Children’s Radio (Детское радио), Like FM, Radio Romantika, Relax FM, Radio Zenit
Publishing: Seven Days, Story Caravan
News portal: Rutube, Yappy, PREMIER, 101.ru, NTV-Plus, Match Premier
State Media Matrix Typology: Captured Public/State-Managed (CaPu)
Ownership and governance
Through a complex ownership web involving a raft of companies, the Russian state indirectly controls Gazprom Media. Officially, Gazprom Media is owned by Gazprombank, a company part of the state-owned Gazprom. The largest shareholder in Gazprombank is Gazfond, a company majority controlled by Lider, a management company controlled by Sogaz Insurance group, in which Rossiya Bank, close to President Vladimir Putin, owns the largest stake.
Source of funding and budget
The financial model behind Gazprom Media is based on advertising revenues and subscriptions for thematic and pay-TV channels. The financial data about Gazprom Media are rather murky and inconsistent.
In 2020, Gazprom Media had total revenues of RUB 99.2bn (US$ 1.38bn). In the first three quarters of 2021, the company saw its revenues up to RUB 84.2bn, the ad sales accounting for more than 72% of that, according to media reports.
A report from Media and Journalism Research Center found totally different figures in the Excheck.pro database. According to that source, in 2021, Gazprom Media reported revenue of RUB 383m only.
Editorial independence
The media outlets controlled by Gazprom Media have close ties to the Russian state administration. Their news coverage is outright propaganda in the Kremlin’s service. The company’s flagship channel NTV is known for systematically attacking EU diplomats and civil society groups and for “hewing closely to the Kremlin’s viewpoint.” Some reports refer to NTV as “Russia’s most aggressive channels of disinformation.”
A note has to be made about one of Gazprom Media’s outlets: Ekho Moskvy. This is the sole liberal media outlet in Gazprom Media’s portfolio. With a history going back to 1990, Ekho Moskvy remained independent in all of its history, including the last years when it was owned by the state (via Gazprom Media). The station was allowed by the Kremlin to remain independent, a media capture strategy of governments in various countries where they allow the so-called “oases of independence” as a reassurance to citizens and proof to critics that there is independent media in the country. As it remained independent and critical of the government during the war in Ukraine, Ekho Moskvy was taken off the air on 1 March 2022.
No internal statute and no independent mechanism for assessment or oversight of the editorial independence of Gazprom Media’s outlets have been identified.
October 2023