https: //www.site/2018-03-05/glava_mash_o_svyazyah_s_silovikami_stoimosti_eksklyuziva_i_otnosheniyah_s_gabrelyanovym

"We still have no inviolable people, there are no prohibitions"

Head of Mash - about ties with security forces, cost of exclusiveness and relations with Gabrelyanov

In the Russian media space, the Mash Telegram channel has loudly declared itself, which is 25% owned by the former deputy editor-in-chief of the Life publication Nikita Mogutin and 75% by the head of the NewsMedia media holding Aram Gabrelyanov. Today, the Mash channel is one of the largest in terms of the number of subscribers in Telegram. Nikita Mogutin, who became one of the speakers at the Planerka media forum in Yekaterinburg, told the site how much money Mash spends on the purchase of exclusive information, which federal media use the services of their "news service" and why the Mash project could not pay for itself on its own.

- Tell us about your feelings, when did it become clear that Gabrelyanov's media holding NewsMedia was falling apart? How morally did the team, including you, survived this event?

- There was no feeling that something was falling apart. Rather, there was a feeling that it was time to do something new. There was an understanding that there (in Life - approx ..

- After almost eight years of work, in the summer of 2017, you stopped being the deputy editor-in-chief of the Life portal. Was it due to the fact that at that time you had already created a new project Mash, formally independent of NewsMedia? Or did Aram Gabrelyanov set a condition: either you create and develop your projects, or goodbye?

- It's just impossible to sit on two chairs. On one chair there are pikes, on the other chair Mash. I preferred to sit on the chair with Mash, so I left.

- Tell us, when and how did you get the idea to create Mash? Were you sure that Gabrelyanov would like your idea, he would tell you: “Here's some money, do it”?

- Never in his life Aram Ashotovich [Gabrelyanov] can say so (laughs). This idea has been spinning in my head for a long time, and not only for me alone, but also for the guys with whom we eventually created Mash. There was a feeling that [in Life] we began to do what gradually became unnecessary [to the reader]. We worked for the present, but we wanted to make the future.

And so we thought: oh, how to do this, or maybe this? Then we thought: let's create a cool Telegram channel for Life? But no, because Life is still a site, Life is still a brand, and we will not move it anywhere. Therefore, we understood that if we want to move and develop, we must get up from our place.

You know, creating Mash now, I think again that our team is creating the present. Soon we will want a “future”.

- Why Mash at all? Translated from English as "puree".

- Let's be honest now (laughs): I had a big focus group, we sat in a room, and I took turns to show the audience the signs with letters, looked at their reactions, so we put together the word Mash!

Of course, it was all wrong. I just sat and went over the words in my head. Ta-ah-ah, maybe "Contrand"? Like content trending? Then he began to sort through free domains, words, names, but everything was busy. Then I just started to drive in the words "mishmash", "porridge", "mixed", and I got Mash. There is a series called "Service at the M.A.S.H. Hospital." I looked at the heroes, I liked the photo of them, our guys really look like them. Here, in fact, and Mash!

- 30 million rubles Gabrelyanov invested in the stream-project Black Elepfant Ilya Melekhin. How much did your project get?

- I will not disclose the amount of investment. It's confidential after all. But Ilya is a fine fellow if he received such funds. I can express my respect to him.

- You got less?

- I do not name my amount.

- As far as I know, each of Aram Gabrelyanov's new projects (Black Elepfant, Mash, "Raisins", Space, Gigarama, WarGonzo, "Black Mirror", Shot - approx. Site) had to reach self-sufficiency before December 2017. Otherwise, they are closed. In one of your interviews, you said that it was in December last year that Mash began to pay for itself. Then how much does Mash bring in monthly?

- I will not tell you the total profit from all sites. I can only tell you about Telegram. Since May 2017, we have attracted an audience that is very active, they look at us very well, we are not “mucked” like many channels in Telegram. So, in February 2018, due to integrations in Telegram, we earned 3.8 million rubles. At the same time, we spent zero rubles on our channel.

The whole point of Mash in Telegram is waste-free production. It so happened that video content initially stood at the head of the entire Mash design, we created a product for VKontakte users. But at the same time, we had a lot of material that we could not turn into a video, and we began to write texts in Telegram. That is, our Telegram channel is a waste of VKontakte production. But these texts became so high-quality and interesting that it was Telegram that became the flagship.

- It all depends on what the advertiser came to us with. We filter them a lot, because we don't feed people what they might not like. See how it goes. If an old friend came to us, with whom we have been working for a hundred years and ate a pound of salt together, then for him the price of a post on our channel varies from 20 to 35 thousand rubles. It all depends on the complexity of the advertising submission. For those who are not our friends and came to us from the street, the post will cost 45 thousand and more.

By the way, we have a clear price list for advertising channels about cryptocurrency and business: from 50 thousand rubles. Why? Because if a dude wants to tell people how to make a million, but he has no money to advertise with us, then maybe he needs to learn how to make money himself?

But we never undertake to advertise what we have not tried ourselves. We were once offered to advertise a custom online game, after which my colleagues and I downloaded it, played it and made sure that it was not stupid siphoning of money from the user.

- Well, that's right, their representatives, and always different, write to me consistently 1-2 times a month, but as soon as they hear "300 thousand rubles", they always end our dialogue by saying that they will call back. And they don’t call! (laughs)

- And if you agree to 300 thousand? Will the principle of principle go away, and the post on Telegram will appear?

- I'll tell you right away, I either disagree at all, or I'll advertise for them on my own terms in full. We will write down absolutely all risks for users in this post. Mash in this case is like a pack of cigarettes - we will show subscribers a picture of lung cancer, but the Marlboro brand will also be.

- Um, I don't even know. Each time is unique. But, by the way, we are sometimes asked to advertise cognac. And it would seem that everything is fine, but we understand that subscribers will react ambiguously and then generally unsubscribe.

- Judging by your rates, it is unlikely that Mash makes money only from advertising. You have 27 people on your staff who need to pay the "Moscow" salary. What non-Mash projects does your team do?

- The essence of Mash is an opportunity for self-realization for any member of our team. We earn our main funds on special projects (as a rule, entertainment, scientific and educational content - videos, PR campaigns), which have nothing to do with Mash.

But this is how all "new media" work, who are more or less successful.

- Give an example, with whom do you cooperate and on what conditions?

- There is one very large Russian corporation, whose leader once saw Mash, and then looked into the social networks of his company. After that, he arranged a meeting, where there was a wild showdown due to the low level of virality. Therefore, the PR director of the corporation came to us and asked us to make an examination of all social networks, and then rock them.

It is even easier, for example, when customers come to us and say that they have produced a carrot-flavored chocolate bar that needs to be promoted. The business of "new media" is like this because uncles in expensive suits understand that their subordinates do not know how social networks work, but we do!

- How much do these private projects bring in money for Mash?

- This is our main income.

- Why don't you name the numbers? It just turns out that Mash did not pay for itself ... Your project was paid for by people from your team involved in side projects.

- Naturally! It's a logical process! All of these side projects only came about because we created the once successful Mash. Thanks to third-party projects, we in Telegram can not place ads for months at all.

- In December 2017, in an interview with Planerka, you said that the limit of Mash subscribers is 170 thousand people. 2.5 months have passed. You have more than 207 thousand subscribers. Overfulfilled, what is the new goal?

- If everything goes well, we will increase the number of subscribers two or three times. Hopefully we will double by the end of the year.

- You have already said that you would like to buy Mash from Aram Gabrelyanov, who owns about 75% of the project. When do you plan to implement your plans?

- We're in the process. Trust me, it won't happen quickly.

- Do you still want to get rid of the Life plume?

- The train has long been gone. I am glad that most of our readers do not equate Life and Mash. We are an independent product. You know, we ride other horses towards our sunset.

- Still, you have worked in Life for many years, how is that experience reflected in your work now? As your former employee once told me: "Life is indiscriminate." Are the tactics different now?

“Even now we have no inviolable people, there are no prohibitions. We make our product honestly, that's all. There has never been a moment when someone very important would say to me: “Don't! Do not write! Don't put it on! " The main thing is that everything is provable.

- I must say that Life has always had one of the best news services. She now works for Mash. You continue to use "leaks" from the security forces, officials, which is obvious. But at the same time, you also ridicule them for the slightest offenses. How do you manage to maintain a relationship?

- Wait, the "drain" is a purposeful order, and we have Madonna Dunyaeva and Gleb Trifonov - our main backbone, who has been working with news for a long time and can get anything. We simply do not enter into close loving relations with any of the departments. Therefore, Mash has no financial or personal obligations, we do and write whatever we want - within the framework of Russian legislation.

- You obviously continue to buy exclusives from the same departments. How much money does it take from your budget? In the heyday of Life, huge funds were spent on the purchase of valuable information, then, according to my data, the budget was sharply cut.

- (Laughs) I cannot say that this is a huge amount. The complicity of readers and journalists is now very actively developed. If earlier we had to run for information, now 40-60% of all topics are brought by users.

- And yet, how much do you spend to buy exclusive content?

- I will not name the exact amount. But I can tell you that she will definitely not surprise you or amaze you. Not hundreds of billions.

- Life was highly praised in the market for its cool news service, but was not liked for its political engagement and unethicality. How is Mash's political stance? Are there any political contacts with the Kremlin or with the same security officials who, for example, are asking to kill Navalny or something?

- I believe that Mash should be out of politics - this is unambiguous. We work only on socially significant events and phenomena, and this is how it should be in the future. It so happened that now elections will be held in Russia and we cannot but reflect at least minimally this moment, simply because it is very important for people.

If we look at the number of materials that can be conventionally called “political”, we have a ratio of about 1 per 100 materials. There are moments of our personal position in relation to this or that candidate, and we reflect them.

- You are also selling exclusive content to other media. What is the price here?

- It all depends on the media itself. Contracts can be long-term or short-term. Selling one video will cost from 20 thousand to several hundred thousand rubles, depending on its importance.

Now we have signed contracts with several federal media outlets. I tell many editors of publications that we have such a colossal amount of information that we don’t use a bit, so we are able to replace the “news service” of some media.

- Who from the federal media buys your content?

- I can not call. There is an ironclad rule - do not talk about what affects the interests of third parties. Vile same.

Mash is an internet project launched in spring 2017. Mash is one of the first to find exclusive news and spread viral stories across the Internet. Now the news of the project is actively used by most of the media, including federal ones.

Who is leading it?

The first editor-in-chief of Mash was Nikita Mogutin, a former deputy editor-in-chief of Life. The project was started with the money of Aram Gabrelyanov, the general director of the News Media media holding, which owns Life.

In November 2017, Mash became self-sufficient (in March 2018, the profit from the Telegram channel amounted to 3.8 million rubles), and in the spring Mogutin bought out his share of the shares (51%). In September 2018, Mogutin left the project. “Mash is perhaps the best thing that could have happened to me,” Mogutin commented on his decision on Facebook. After his departure, Daria Nasonova became the chief editor of the project.

According to Mogutin, as of April 2018, Mash's staff includes 26 full-time journalists (most are former Life employees) and 300-500 freelance journalists (editors, cameramen, and others).

Why is it important?

Mash was the first to give news about the drunken adventures of Alexander Kokorin and Pavel Mamaev and told this story in detail. Mash showed everything: from the beating of the driver of Channel One host and an official of the Ministry of Industry and Trade by the players to the police interrogation of the players.

For a year and a half of its existence, Mash has gathered a huge audience:
... Telegram (about 400 thousand readers)
... VKontakte (1.1 million readers)
... Facebook (110 thousand readers)

According to Medialogia, in the first half of 2017, Mash became the most cited Telegram channel among the Russian media. Now, according to this indicator, the channel takes the second place (the first one belongs to the political channel "NEZYGAR").

What other exclusive stories did they find?

Mash rarely writes about politics. Main specialization - road traffic accidents, personal stories and current events.

Here are specific examples of Mash finding and developing important topics:

... The details of the death of Eduard Uspensky were reported
... We took a resonant comment from a judge who came to the store with a naked woman
... An employee of the "E" center was identified, against whom a torture case was initiated

You need to be friends with the audience and speak the same language, then they will start to trust you and even order work. The founder of the exclusive news public Mash Nikita Mogutin gave a lecture for the RuSSOL online startup school at the Deworkacy Corporate Innovations Hub and said that just last month the channel earned almost 4 million rubles in Telegram. Here's all the most interesting from his speech: how to get promoted in the messenger, why the news audience is considered "dirty" and why advertise Rolls-Royce in the "cart".

How to be cool on Telegram and make money

The Mash Telegram channel is a random brainchild, on which no one bet, which no one particularly wanted, and which was made for fun. At the first stage, we did not invest in advertising at all, the first 500-700 people came to us themselves. After that we put on a small advertisement on a small channel of our friends, got to 1,000. And suddenly the media noticed us.

Telegram channel Mash began to flicker before people's eyes more and more often, more often. The explosion went on a wave of super-news about the blocking of Telegram, which still did not, and we began to grow.

In Telegram, we never write about things that we are not personally interested in, that we personally did not cause emotions. We decided not to copy-paste, not to process other people's information (excluding a socially important event or extremely important information about Russia from the Western media).

Most people give a fuck about 99% news. There are people who are only interested in "jaundice", there are people who are only interested in politics, crime, and some narrow audiences, but there is the bulk who are interested in what is somehow applicable to them personally.

To work with your audience, you need to clearly understand how you will not infuriate them. It is very easy to start pissed off a person if you constantly send private messages. We have chosen the quantity for ourselves - 4 posts per day, no more. Later we started making 8 posts a day. Now the audience is large, it demands more and more meat, we give up to 20 news, that's a lot. Not everyone has time to read them in real time, so we began to make a small digest in the evening - these are 3-4 posts, these are the most important, most interesting news

As for the "bucks" in Telegram. As with any platform, large advertisers looked at it first. And now they began to take it seriously. Nowadays advertising in a cart is of two types: a pyramid (I advertise you so that you advertise someone else, so that he advertises someone else) and brands. They have already arrived in the cart. If you are big, serious, you have good numbers and important people read you, then premium brands will start coming to you.

At first I was surprised when they began to knock on us and ask us to advertise Rolls-Royce. Why advertise Rolls-Royce on Telegram? But a huge number of Russian officials are subscribed to us. Who else should show them Rolls-Royce ads.

There are no statistics in the cart. There is a tegostat that can measure some indicators, but you cannot measure the characteristics of the audience. Therefore, we did it simply: from time to time we threw in a Google table with a questionnaire for subscribers: age, interests. We did it with 102 thousand subscribers, I think, 30 or 40 thousand responded to it, that is, half of the audience. This is already enough to make a cut.

We got to know the interests, gender, irritants of the audience. We unexpectedly had almost equal shares of men and women, with a slight bias towards men. Age - 18-35, residence - Moscow / regions.

Where to start your Telegram channel, Nikita Mogutin's recipe

Fill the channel with content for 5-6 scrolls so that the user has something to read before subscribing.

If Telegram is blocked, part of our audience will fall off, part of the audience will be able to read us from under various services, but even if everything is critical, we will be able to find a way to hearts on other sites, simply by moving the main vector to the other side. Thanks to our third-party advertising projects and content sales, we exist confidently, we close our budget to profit and without Telegram.

About Mash

New media now mean real freedom, real absence of censorship, the ability to do what you want.

We at Mash have never encountered the problem that we could not write about something. The most important thing now is with this freedom to bear responsibility to your readers, respect them, love and not be rude to anyone.

Now Mash employs 26 people in the state and 300-500 - out of the state, remotely, stringers - we hold on to them. These are editors, cameramen, journalists who help us to edit video in our free time, tell us the news and make money on this.

We have three people working on Telegram, and another 16 people extract information for all other platforms. We reached self-sufficiency at the end of November, after which we went into profit. Over the past month, we only got a record profit from Telegram - 3 million 800 with something there thousand rubles.

Trading our content brings us good money. We get a huge amount of information and videos because we know how to search and know how to do it. We sell it to TV channels and other media, to anyone who works with us.

Everybody makes the news tonight

Before the advent of social networks, days, weeks, months, a long period of time passed between an event and publication, until journalists found out about it and wrote to the newspapers. Let's take a look at the example of the Titanic crash. He drowned on the night of April 14-15. The first news about him in the media came only in the afternoon of the 15th: the Evening Sun wrote that the Titanic sank. All people are saved. The liner was towed to Halifax. It was only on the morning of April 16 that the first lists of survivors were published in The New York Times. As it happens now: the plane fell. Usually it becomes known about it in 10-15 minutes. The first lists of the dead, victims or news that people survived appear literally within the first hour. This is because the information field is now very saturated, eyewitnesses post their photos on social networks. Journalists were replaced by ordinary users.

The classic user finds out everything in his news feed, from the messages of friends. There aren't many real fact-checking people who crawl websites, compare information and put together a perfect picture.

Imagine a very large circle, a wide circle: these are the print media. Inside it there is a smaller circle - these are information sites. Another one within this circle is social networks. Inside it is already quite small - these are instant messengers. And in the very center is the user, the reader. The further the circle is from it, the longer information reaches it, the longer it takes to be processed, processed, changed, and often turns into something completely different.

In messengers, you, as the author of "new media", find yourself in the most intimate sphere of a person. You have a mobile phone screen, you receive a message there from your wife, from your child - and messages from Mash also drop there. This is an area in which you need to earn maximum reader confidence.

If, as a journalist, you communicated with him from the position of a mentor, now imagine yourself as a politician in a crowd of people - everyone is shouting at you, yelling at you, and you are trying, swinging your saber, to tell your truth. If the audience is at war with you, then you will fail. You need to start delivering information in a way that is understandable to your reader and simple.

Secrets of reposts, trust and impressions

The news audience is considered "dirty", it is very heavy. Because people most often come to specific news, and do not read them all constantly. They came to you, for example, for a plane crash, murder or something else, read it and leave. At best, they subscribed to you, but after a while they may still leave.

If your audience likes you, you should pay attention to the most important metric. This engagement is how the audience reacts to your material, how it interacts with it, communicates with your content - likes, reposts, comments or “send to friends”.

Involvement - for its sake, in general, all this exists. If the views can be increased and no one, except the pros, will notice that something is wrong, then the involvement is immediately visible: if the comments are lagging behind, and there are many views, if there are few likes, or vice versa, there are too many, but there are few reposts.

When we first launched Mash, we encountered an interesting thing. Our views immediately began to grow, but reposts were in full ass. If you are not re-posted, then you remain within your already assembled audience. Your reach does not grow, more people do not recognize you.

We began to understand and realized that a person repost what he says about himself. Why are people reposting Navalny's investigations so well? Because everyone wants to appear or be fighters for justice, to report: "Yes, I also believe that something needs to be changed." Why does porn have millions of views and units of reposts? Because everyone watches porn, but nobody wants everyone to know about it. A person repost what creates his portrait, his face. Having understood this, we began to treat our content differently: we began to speak with the audience in human language, to convey what we would like to be conveyed to us.

Look for emotions. Pull out what will catch something in a person's soul. It can be both negative emotion and positive emotion, it can be good and bad, irritation, anger, rage, love, longing, sadness, fun, laughter, and anything else, but what will affect a person, what will make empathize with him.

Impression is also important. Now, when we missed some news, did not notice something, did not tell about something, users come to us and write: "Why Mash does not write about this, why are you hiding it ?!" People somewhere else read it, then they came to you and asked - why didn't you tell about it? They expected from you - that's what you say. This is the most important thing - this impression.