How VKontakte’s video-sharing platform is trying to lure Russians from YouTube by stealing its content and cloning its look
Since the Kremlin began throttling YouTube playback speeds in Russia this summer, two homegrown platforms have been vying to take its place: Rutube and VKontakte’s VK Video. While Rutube swiftly transformed into a vehicle for state propaganda, VK Video has taken a subtler approach, aiming to replicate YouTube’s appeal for viewers cut off from the American platform. To do this, it’s mimicking YouTube’s design, re-uploading its videos, actively recruiting Russian creators, and turning a blind eye to pirated content. Journalists from the independent outlet Verstka investigated just how effective this strategy has been and what hurdles the service still faces. Meduza summarizes their key findings.
In its early days, the Russian social networking site VKontakte was widely seen as little more than a Facebook clone. Now, its video-sharing platform, VK Video, is intentionally mirroring YouTube. The resemblance goes beyond just the interface, where VK’s familiar blue logo has turned red, and the platform’s tile layout and left-hand menu are strikingly similar to YouTube’s design. VK Video has also been actively re-uploading content from its American counterpart — so much so that YouTube has blocked it.
These “borrowed” videos span every category: trending videos and Shorts, random clips, and huge archives uploaded by ViDuck, a bot that’s transferred tens of thousands of videos, including reviews, sports games, lectures, old music videos, and more. This wave began well before Russian authorities started slowing YouTube’s playback speeds in the country this summer. Between 2022 and 2023, ViDuck alone re-uploaded 1.2 million videos.
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Much of this content transfer violates copyright law, something VK’s administrators likely even encourage. For example, VK Video streams recent foreign films in Russian for free, including the American movies Inside Out 2 and Poor Things, which haven’t been officially released or licensed in Russia.
Beyond stealing content, VK Video is also trying to lure Russian-speaking vloggers. While exclusive contracts are rare, a few creators have fully migrated. Popular vloggers like Vlad A4 (2.6 million VK Video subscribers), Azamat Musagaliyev (1.5 million subscribers), and SHASTUN (867,000 subscribers) have encouraged their followers to switch to VK, saying they have exclusive content there. Still, they continue to update their YouTube channels, though less frequently. Meanwhile, other top Russian creators are posting similar content to both platforms at about the same rate.
Playing catch-up
As of September 2024, the media monitoring website Medialogia listed 20 top Russian-language vloggers on VK Video and 21 on YouTube (due to a tie). Only two channels — Dima Maslennikov and LIVITIN — appeared on both lists. Even the creators behind VK’s most popular channels generally have far fewer subscribers than on YouTube. Among the top 40 vloggers, only six have a larger following on VK.
Engagement metrics paint a similar picture, with Russian-language YouTube outperforming VK Video by 33 percent. Despite this, VK Video’s subscriber base is steadily growing, though it’s unclear if this growth is entirely organic or includes inflated numbers. Over one week, top VK channels saw an average gain of 18,200 new subscribers.
To attract creators, VK plans to offer a 100-million-ruble (one-million-dollar) grant for vloggers with over 1,000 followers, with a maximum award of 5 million rubles ($51,000) per creator. Now that YouTube has suspended monetization for Russian users, that’s better than nothing, but YouTube creators can still earn through direct ad contracts. In September 2024, VK launched its own monetization program, promising creators 50-80 percent of ad revenue. By comparison, YouTube offers creators 55 percent but requires only 500 subscribers to participate, whereas VK Video’s threshold is 5,000 subscribers.
However, even popular creators still face challenges with monetization, a representative from a major ad agency working with VK told Verstka. VK promised high earnings for creators who migrated, assuming they would bring a large audience with them. Yet, audience growth has fallen short of VK’s expectations, and creators have had to rely on heavy ad placements to avoid losses.
Gleb Belichenko, the executive producer for Novaya Gazeta Europe’s YouTube channel, cautions against underestimating viewer loyalty to content over platform. “Each episode of [the Russian-language Internet comedy show] What Happened Next? was a media phenomenon, generating huge buzz. Fans couldn’t wait to watch it. Would they switch from YouTube to VK for their favorite show? Yes, they would.”
According to the media research company Mediascope, YouTube’s monthly reach in Russia dropped by almost three million from July to September, while VK’s grew by 800,000. Mediascope didn’t clarify how it accounted for users potentially accessing YouTube via VPN, but even so, YouTube’s reach still outpaces VK by 2.4 million.
An issue of access
From a technical perspective, VK Video is fairly user-friendly. Unlike YouTube’s free version, VK Video doesn’t interrupt videos with platform-inserted ads. Content is sorted into categories like “Auto,” “Travel,” and “Tech,” while the mobile app includes a dedicated button for “Clips” (short videos similar to YouTube Shorts) and offers personalized recommendations. Still, not everything runs smoothly: videos sometimes appear in the wrong categories, Clips often load in low quality, and many popular channels lack time-stamped segments, making navigation tricky.
One of VK Video’s strengths is its interactive content, which allows creators to engage viewers more directly. For example, some videos let viewers click to choose the protagonist’s next move. Each VK Video channel also serves as a community page where creators can post photos, giveaways, and clips, helping to build an integrated fan base where followers can interact, vote on upcoming topics, and feel closer to their favorite creators.
That said, these features alone likely wouldn’t have been enough to drive VK Video’s audience growth without outside disruption to its main competitor. Google and Yandex search trends suggest that interest in VK Video only began to spike after Roskomnadzor, Russia’s federal censorship agency, started slowing YouTube playback speeds in late July 2024. In August, VK Video’s audience grew 2.2 times compared to July. By early September, YouTube’s loading speed in Russia had slowed almost tenfold. Access on mobile devices remains mostly stable, but many home Internet providers have reduced YouTube speeds to unusable levels, making it inaccessible without a VPN. Google, YouTube’s parent company, reports that over a third of Russian users haven’t been able to reliably access the platform since August. Providers in Russia are required to install traffic control devices that make it hard for users to bypass restrictions.
“Platforms gain popularity primarily due to accessibility and ease of use — the ‘one-click system,’” explains Belichenko. “You open the YouTube app, and its smart feeds, algorithms, and interface guide you exactly where you need to go. It all worked beautifully until YouTube began to slow down. A broken YouTube isn’t a one-click system anymore; it’s two clicks: YouTube and a VPN. But VK doesn’t require a VPN.”
YouTube is primarily an entertainment platform, with categories like “Music” and “Entertainment” making up 42 percent of searches. Popular Russian channels there often center on challenges, personal vlogs, or gaming. VK Video leans even more heavily into simple, accessible themes like relationships and humor, with comedy and family content leading its trending categories. Top channels revolve around everyday routines, family life, and weddings — while pro-government propaganda rarely makes it into the trends.
This marks a notable difference between VK Video and Rutube, another YouTube “alternative” backed by the Russian authorities. While Rutube prominently showcases government propaganda, VK Video’s top spots contain relatively little pro-state material. Instead, most pro-war content comes from community-driven channels rather than official sources, giving it a more grassroots feel.
Unlike Rutube, which overtly promotes propaganda, VK Video seems more focused on building a user-friendly YouTube alternative for Russian audiences — something that feels comfortable and familiar as access to the American platform becomes increasingly limited, yet remains within a sphere the Kremlin can control.
