How Rutube Uses AI to Promote Videos
Artificial intelligence has become the main growth driver for the Russian video hosting platform Rutube. In 2025, the viewing time of recommended videos increased fivefold, and the share of search decreased from 22% to 12% — users are less and less searching for videos manually and more often trusting algorithms. What lies behind these numbers? How exactly do neural networks promote videos, and what does it mean for creators? Let's break it down.
Why AI is Rutube's New Editor-in-Chief
Previously, to find an interesting video, you had to type a query into the search bar and sift through the results. Now, Rutube's algorithms do it for you. They analyze the behavior of millions of users, anticipate their desires, and present content that is highly likely to appeal to you.
"At the core of RUTUBE's recommendation system are ML technologies that assess user preferences and create personalized content selections," explains Sergey Kosinsky, Deputy General Director of "Gazprom-Media Holding."
Today, 43% of all viewing time on the platform comes from recommendations. Algorithms have become the main "broadcast": they decide which video a viewer sees and whether your content gets into their feed.
How Rutube Implements AI: Three Key Directions
The platform uses artificial intelligence not only for recommendations. Technology permeates all stages — from video upload to its placement in the top.
1. Recommendation Engine: How Algorithms Predict Your Desires
Rutube's main weapon in the battle for viewer attention is personalized recommendations. The system analyzes viewing history, likes, comments, retention time, and even how quickly a user scrolled through a video.
"We see that the viewing time of videos from recommendations has increased fivefold compared to autumn 2024. We continue to improve these algorithms, which increase viewer engagement," notes Sergey Stamboltsyan, General Director of "GPM Projects."
At SPIEF-2025, an update to the recommendation system was announced. The results were immediate: engagement grew by 75% in 9 months.
What this means for creators: Your video can now be seen not only by someone looking for a borscht recipe but also by someone who watched cooking shows a week ago. The algorithm will find your audience itself.
2. Smart Moderation: How AI Accelerates Content Review
Previously, video moderation took hours. Now, the average video review time is 4 minutes. This was made possible thanks to a system that the Rutube team jokingly calls "Eye of Sauron."
How it works: AI algorithms scan videos, recognize events in the frame, and flag suspicious fragments. The moderator only needs to check the marked sections.
"The entire stream of UGC content passes through a system that recognizes and fixes events in the frame. If it detects a suspicious fragment, the moderator receives a hint about which part of the video contains content requiring review," says Sergey Kosinsky.
What this means for creators: Your video appears in the feed much faster. This is especially important for news and timely content.
3. AI for Creators: An Assistant that Suggests Topics and Scripts
The most interesting development Rutube is preparing for 2026 is an AI assistant for bloggers.
"I would call AI not a replacement, but a co-creator — an assistant. We are currently developing an assistant for bloggers: it will suggest video topics, timing, visual images, and so on," shares Sergey Kosinsky.
What the assistant will be able to do:
- Analyze trends and suggest relevant topics
- Calculate optimal timing for your audience
- Generate visual images and assist with storyboarding
- Suggest publication times for maximum reach
Additionally, automatic subtitle creation based on AI is already available in the Rutube studio. By the end of 2025, it will be available to all creators on the platform.
The Future: Why Search is Dying, and Recommendations Rule the World
Sergey Kosinsky made a bold statement at a conference: in the next five years, classic search in its familiar format will fade away. AI agents and recommendation mechanisms will take its place.
"We are observing the decline of search as we have known it for the last 20 years. This is especially noticeable on video hosting platforms," he emphasized.
What does this mean? Competition between platforms and creators will shift from fighting for high positions in search results to fighting for inclusion in a user's personalized recommendation feed. The algorithm itself will decide what to show and what to leave unnoticed.
"Competition between video platforms, bloggers, and even brands will shift to a new dimension — the struggle will unfold for presence in the final answer or in the neural network's personalized recommendation feed," forecasts Kosinsky.
Rutube is already preparing for this future. The platform is developing as a "single entry point for finding any video content," effectively turning into a video marketplace where content doesn't need to be searched for — it finds its viewer itself.
What This Means for Creators: How to Adapt to the AI Era
If Rutube's algorithms become the main "distributors" of traffic, your task is to befriend them.
- Create content that retains viewers. Algorithms analyze watch time. The longer a viewer stays on your video, the higher its value for the platform. The first 30 seconds are crucial. Hook the viewer immediately.
- Upload regularly. Recommendation systems love predictability. Channels that publish videos on a stable schedule get more impressions.
- Use all AI tools. Automatic subtitles are not just a convenience for viewers. Rutube indexes subtitles, and they act as an additional SEO factor. The more text associated with your video, the better algorithms understand it.
- Think about the viewer, not keywords. Search is dying. Instead of "stuffing" the description with keywords, focus on making the video truly interesting to the target audience. Algorithms will figure out who to show it to.
Conclusion: AI — Your Assistant, Not Your Enemy
Rutube has bet on artificial intelligence, and 2025-2026 showed that the strategy works: views from recommendations increased fivefold, and the share of search halved.
For creators, this means one thing: the time for "playing with search" is passing. An era is coming when algorithms themselves decide which content deserves attention. Your task is to create high-quality, engaging videos, and Rutube, with the help of AI, will find a grateful viewer for them. Or, as Sergey Kosinsky says, "content doesn't need to be searched for — it finds its viewer itself."
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