March 20, 2019
TV
Regions
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How regional marketing helped TV-3 achieve a record viewership share
In early March, TV-3 (part of Gazprom-Media) relaunched a popular reality show “The Last Hero (Posledniy Geroy)”. To promote the project, the TV-3 team conducted a large-scale regional advertising campaign across outdoor and digital platforms. Here’s how regional marketing allowed the channel to achieve the highest viewership share in its history.
On March 2, TV-3 premiered “The Last Hero,” a reality show where actors compete for survival against psychics, hosted by Yana Troyanova. According to Mediascope, the debut episode achieved an average viewership share of 12.9% and a rating of 2.8% among viewers aged 14 to 44. This is 2.9 times higher than the channel’s average viewership. For TV-3, the figures for the show’s premiere marked the best performance for an in-house production in the channel’s history.
“Our research revealed strong anticipation for “The Last Hero” in the regions, driven by its rich history on television, overt nostalgic themes, the popularity of host Yana Troyanova, and the exotic tropical setting—particularly appealing at the end of winter as a contrast to typical regional landscapes during this season. That is why we focused on promoting the show in Russian cities with over one million residents and in urban agglomerations around regional capitals,” said Vladimir Permyakov, Deputy Marketing Director of TV-3.
In collaboration with the marketing support department of the Gazprom-Media Entertainment Television subholding (part of Gazprom-Media), the TV-3 team conducted a large-scale campaign across outdoor and digital platforms.
Outdoor advertising
The campaign deployed hundreds of outdoor advertisements in 14 of Russia’s largest cities. The style of the new season was inspired by the movie “Jumanji” with visuals featuring Philippine islands and Yana Troyanova posing with a machete. The team prioritized large-format, high-visibility outdoor placements in key transportation hubs, where the tropical imagery would have maximum impact.
The campaign extended to branded limousines and SUVs displaying “The Last Hero” visual identity throughout Russia’s most populous cities (St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Chelyabinsk, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Ufa, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don). One particularly beautiful and memorable promotion in Saint Petersburg featured Emperor Peter the Great “falling under the spell” of “Amazon” promoters.
Another key stage of the regional promotion was the relay race to select the nation’s “last heroes” from among the show’s TV audience. The channel’s team set up tropical island-themed stations in major shopping and entertainment centers and held events where the main “feature” was challenges “just like on the show”.
Regional media promotion for “The Last Hero” spanned a month. The campaign was accompanied by the gradual release of information about the show in regional media.
“Details about the show were made public in several stages and tailored to local audiences and their interests, creating a local connection to the major federal TV event. First we announced the premiere date, then the name of the host. Then, gradually, we released details about the islands where the show was filmed, and finally revealed the names of the heroes. For example, the news that the host of the legendary show would be a native of the Urals, Yana Troyanova, was widely spread by the media and digital channels of Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk. One of the show’s participants, actor Artem Suchkov, was warmly supported by journalists and bloggers from Nizhny Novgorod, Irina Bezrukova and Namtar Enzigal—from Rostov-on-Don, Tatyana Larina—from St. Petersburg,” explained Vladimir Permyakov.
Exclusive content for the digital environment
In Krasnodar, TV-3 launched a special digital campaign with exclusive content. As part of the campaign, the channel sent a local blogger from Krasnodar to the island.
On the day of the premiere, the show achieved a 25.8% viewership share in Krasnodar, among viewers aged 14 to 44. This was an all-time record for TV-3 in the city. Krasnodar set another record by ranking third in the country for online views of the pilot episode, behind only Moscow and St. Petersburg. This is a remarkable achievement for a city with a population of only 800,000.
“It’s a southern city where almost all major media and local events are discussed on Instagram. To make the launch of “The Last Hero” into a citywide event, we sent a well-known local blogger to the island for the entire filming period. The goal was to capture as much exclusive content as possible, specifically for Krasnodar, including participant interviews, behind-the-scenes insights, and a fresh perspective on the production. The blogger is now actively sharing this footage and photo coverage on social media, while we amplify the reach of the content through local media outlets and online communities. From there, our stories are picked up by social media algorithms and journalists, the blogger is invited to appear on local TV and radio shows, and the rumor that a Krasnodar resident is attending the filming of this iconic TV show instantly spreads throughout the city,” said Vladimir Permyakov.
TV-3’s regional media campaign reached 1.8 million people, with promotional events in the major Russian cities attracting 2.1 million participants. Promotional content on social media reached 2.25 million users. In total, the campaign reached 6 million people across all channels.
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