Leisure

The essential of show-business development is creative potential; however, the commercial component is also vital. The execution of any project requires financing, a target audience, a payback and the receipt of an anticipated profit. The show-business and entertainment industry of Ukraine has reached a certain level of development and has potential for further growth, especially in such directions as marketing, advertisement, tourism and production companies.

The foundation for the successful development of show business is, primarily, the popular idea, which is interesting to the audience and capable of generating a net profit. However, the initial idea requires an author’s proper application and protection from unauthorized usage. 

As for the corporate rights of the Ukrainian TV channels and the corresponding deals on their redistribution, the essentials of such deals are often kept under the seal of secrecy. As a result, the system of owners has become intricate, which may be an obstacle for IPOs of any Ukrainian TV channel.

However, despite this, some channels have entered into cooperation with foreign partners and succeeded in attracting foreign capital. Thus, the corporate rights of several Ukrainian television companies are concentrated by offshore companies in full, while some companies practice project cooperation with the media structures of the neighbouring Russian Federation.

As for the Ukrainian movie industry, the situation on the market differs. This primarily concerns the target audience and available cinema halls in the right quantities. Thus, following the results of 2008, earnings from box-office receipts were USD 65.1 mln, which proves that the market has the potential for further growth (in comparison, box-office receipts in Polish cinemas reached USD 126.7 mln). Obviously, cinemas are popular among the Ukrainian audience and this segment is still unsaturated, especially in several regions of Ukraine.

At present, the Ukrainian entertainment market is far behind the Western and neighbouring Russian markets, both in quantity and variety of services offered. At the same time, the rapid growth of this segment in the capital and in cities with more than one million people is caused by growing demand for such services.

In addition to the creation of entertainment areas in Ukraine based on large shopping complexes (Karavan, Ukraina, Magellan, Bolshevik, Komod, Kvadrat na Perova, Ritm, Promenada, Aladdin, Metropolis), significant development was observed in the sector of specialized centres for leisure activities. Thus, at the end of the 1st half of 2009, six such centres were created and launched in Ukraine (Ultramarin, Terminal, Blockbuster, Dyvosvit family entertainment centre, Tropical Park children’s entertainment centre and Arena Entertainment). The latter is an example of a successful club project aimed at the average and above-average price segments.

In future, in Ukraine, particularly in Kyiv, unique entertainment complexes will be created, such as water parks, aquariums, and ski centres. If large investors are interested, it will be possible to create country safaris, rock-climbing walls, and Disneyland and mini-golf courses.