MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. The growing popularity of Russia’s video hosting platform Rutube is not only linked to the slowed performance of YouTube but also to the technological advancements of the national service, Alexander Zharov, CEO of Gazprom-Media, which owns Rutube, told TASS.

"Certainly, one could say we got lucky - YouTube’s operation slowed, and we took off. However, there’s a clear precedent with the Chinese social network Renren, which gained users rapidly after US multinational companies underperformed in China but quickly lost them as well. We exist in a competitive market; people have choices," Zharov said.

The daily audience of Rutube now stands at 13.5 million users, with peaks reaching 16 million, the CEO noted. "This is significant because the figure was just 5 million as recently as July. The growth has been phenomenal. The monthly audience has surpassed 70 million users to date," he added.