O2TV

O2TV (stylized as O₂TV) is a Russian independent TV channel, the target audience of which are young people between 16 and 35, who, as the 2006 presentation reads, would constitute an influential portion of the electorate in the Russian legislative and presidential elections.

The O2TV audience exceeds 17 million people and adds another million every month. The channel is broadcast in over 300 Russian cities, as well as in cities of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

History

In 2006 the channel, which had already existed for 2 years by broadcasting music, was transformed into and rebranded as socially political. At that time it had a 'reach' of only 17 million people, including 1.3 million Moscowites. According to the President of the channel Vasily Lavrov, "We had the aim to create an independent media resource, and we did it."

The title 'O2TV' was derived from the chemical designation for an oxygen molecule, O2. A popular brand on the channel — "oxygenic television", worked on the similarity of the Russian slang taboo adjective which means "perfect, great".