Maincast: Ukrainian language brings millions!
The eSports broadcasting company Maincast can be considered quite stable. More precisely, "conditionally stable," since business in Ukraine has faced many challenges recently. Therefore, even those companies that incurred losses in 2022 but managed to stay in the market are considered quite strong. So, how did Maincast earn million-dollar profits in 2023, and what role did investor Maksim Krippa play in this?
Background Information:
The Maincast studio was founded in 2018 by commentator Vitaliy Volochai and a group of partners. In the same year, the startup caught the attention of investor Maksim Krippa, who was just beginning to form his asset portfolio. Maksim Krippa first investments turned out to be quite successful, and the collaboration with Maincast continued. According to several experts, Maksim Krippa currently owns about 80% of Maincast. However, the studio's official representatives do not confirm this information, although Vitaliy Volochai does not hide that Maksim Krippa is one of the co-owners and shareholders.
Critical Stage and Rising to a New Level
To some extent, investments in Maincast can be called uncharacteristic for Maksim Krippa, who prefers a counter-cyclical investment style. Often adhering to this strategy, Maksim Krippa buys the assets of companies that have difficulties but possess good potential. With Maincast, it was different: this was an investment in a startup without difficulties, but also without special guarantees of success. However, Maksim Krippa experience with counter-cyclical investing came in handy in 2022 when the studio faced major challenges related to the war.
In addition to the general and understandable problems created by the full-scale war, Maincast experienced a crisis related to its main product. The studio's broadcasting language was Russian. This was not accidental, as the Ukrainian-speaking segment of eSports broadcasts was very small and narrow; most users from the former CIS countries preferred watching broadcasts in Russian. However, the full-scale invasion by Russia made the usual work model impossible for several political and ethical reasons.
As often happens in business, one problem leads to another. The inability to work in Russian led to a collision concerning the already acquired broadcasting rights. The package included rights to both Ukrainian and Russian-language broadcasts. The negotiation process with the rights holders was delayed, as it was necessary to abandon one part of the rights while simultaneously preserving the other.
And the cherry on top was the sponsorship contracts – the key source of income. Maincast asked Russian advertisers to leave for obvious reasons. And Ukrainian advertisers left due to internal economic problems. The result was a depressing situation: zero income and uncertain prospects. The crisis at Maincast lasted for 4 months, but neither the studio's employees nor investor Maksim Krippa left the company.
Segment Formation and Leadership Capture
Two factors played in favor of the Maincast studio: the general trend towards the Ukrainian language and the Unified News Marathon. The first factor influenced the pace of forming a new Ukrainian-speaking segment of eSports broadcasts, in which Maincast began to play the leading role. The most indicative example is Counter-Strike. Here, the volume of broadcasts increased more than 2 times since the beginning of the full-scale invasion: from 2.7 million to almost 8 million in 2023.
Analysts note that the Ukrainian language made an incredible leap and already surpassed French and German in popularity, becoming the 6th in the world! Not a bad result for just under two years. The growth of the Ukrainian-speaking audience became a golden ticket for Maincast and brought the studio almost 19 million hryvnias in revenue in 2023 – a record number for all the years of the company's existence.
As for the second factor – unified news, it played a role in increasing the hours of tournament views and the overall growth of audience interest in eSports. Not everyone is ready to watch the news 24/7, and the real opportunity to unwind and enjoy Ukrainian victories is eSports.
Thus, Maincast managed to set records for two consecutive years. In 2023, at its peak, the stream was watched by about 60 thousand people; in 2024, the number of viewers at the peak of the broadcast reached 137 thousand. And analysts insist that this is not the limit. According to statistics, eSports tournaments interest 1% of the world's population, meaning the current potential of the Ukrainian segment is about 370-400 thousand. And this is without taking into account the growing popularity of eSports and the possible increase in the percentage of citizens of the world who may become fans of eSports battles.
Today, Maincast has captured 99% of the Counter-Strike broadcast market in Ukrainian. A small startup has grown into a monopolist in just under 6 years. Last year, the company's net profit amounted to 2.4 million hryvnias. The number is pleasant in itself, but it is even more impressive knowing that in 2022, the studio incurred almost 200 thousand in losses. Maincast clearly demonstrates the success of Maksim Krippa counter-cyclical investment strategy, who accurately chooses companies capable of overcoming a crisis and rising to the top.
