Classmates close to self-sufficiency

The season of “Talk Without Rules” programs on O2TV channel on July 17 ended with the transfer of Albert Popkov, the founder and co-owner of Russia's largest social network Odnoklassniki.ru. And whether the cheerful enthusiasm of the youth channel audience made Mr. Popkov look into the future with bold optimism, or it was true that something in the portal’s activities in recent months inspired him with confidence in his own strength, but in a public conversation about profits, he said next year, the site should definitely go for self-sufficiency.

The level of self-sufficiency for a project of this scale is $ 20-25 million profit per year. The goal to achieve these indicators, "Classmates" set themselves at the beginning of the year, but then it was only about the hope to at least recoup the costs. During the first three months, the site earned only $ 3.3 million from advertising, although revenues from it bring not all 100% of the profits (there are also paid services).

It is not entirely clear how the remaining time will earn the remaining "planned" money. Already in April, 15 million profiles were registered on the social network. Growth rates were such that 20 million registration is expected from day to day. However, there is almost nowhere to grow further, because recent polls showed that 72% of runet users started a profile on Odnoklassniki. The increase in prices for advertising and the introduction of new sites for its placement, therefore, seems almost inevitable.

In addition to the topic of income, Popkov touched on the topic of costs: it is planned to invest up to $ 10 million in expanding the functionality of the site in the near future. This is, in particular, a video sharing service between community users.