Yango Play CEO Roman Shimanskiy Discusses Industry Shift Towards Integrated Entertainment Experiences

Yango Play's Chief Executive, Roman Shimanskiy, believes the future of digital entertainment will focus on integrated experiences rather than individual formats. He explained that Yango Play merges movies, series, music, and mini-games into one app. This approach reflects changing consumption habits where traditional category boundaries are fading.

Shimanskiy highlighted the UAE as a key market for Yango Group. The company is expanding its services in the region, including Yango Maps and Yango Taxi. Yango Play adds an entertainment dimension to this ecosystem. A subscription not only grants access to diverse content but also offers benefits across various Yango applications.

The shift in how people consume media is evident in examples like music videos and movie soundtracks. These can be classified as both video-streaming and music-streaming content. Shimanskiy emphasised that recommendation features are crucial for guiding users when they lack a specific choice.

Content creators are vital to the media industry, according to Shimanskiy. Yango Play supports local productions by showcasing them to audiences and contributes through its own projects in the UAE. This approach strengthens the platform's connection with regional content makers.

At the BRIDGE Summit, Shimanskiy was particularly struck by remarks from Omar bin Sultan Al Olama, Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications. Al Olama discussed living in a world where AI creates most visible content. Shimanskiy noted AI's rapid progress in content production, making tasks faster and more cost-effective than before.

Yango Play's development aligns with a broader trend towards "all-in-one" subscriptions that integrate various content types. This model caters to evolving user preferences by offering seamless transitions between different forms of entertainment within a single platform.

The UAE's strategic importance to Yango Group is underscored by its comprehensive service offerings in the country. By integrating entertainment with other services like maps and taxis, Yango aims to provide a cohesive user experience that enhances customer engagement across its applications.

With inputs from WAM