Current Time Russian documentaries about Siberia score big with audiences
A film that looked at what some scientists call the most powerful explosion in documented history helped Current Time attract 13.7 million views to its documentary YouTube channel in December, a new traffic record and a 43-percent increase in audience size over the previous month.
Current Time’s documentary that aired December 8 delved into the mysterious 1908 “Tunguska meteorite” in Siberia and scored 2 million views in December alone. Scientists today are still debating what really happened that day in the region of the Podkamennaya Tunguska River more than 100 years ago that knocked down trees for thousands of kilometers.
A film that premiered on December 1 examined the difficult living conditions for Russians living in the Krasnoyarsk territory near Norilsk, the formerly closed industrial city. This documentary garnered nearly 2 million views during the month of December.
Both films aired on “Unknown Russia,” One of Current Time’s most popular programs, which provides an intimate portrait of ordinary Russians living on the margins of mainstream society.