Ihor Zaichuk: “Our partners buy the attention of users to sports content”

During the panel discussion “Who Pays for Sport: The Economics of Broadcasting, Advertising and Sponsorship” at SBC Summit Ukraine 2026 Lviv, MEGOGO’s commercial director Ihor Zaichuk spoke about the platform’s sports broadcasting business model, work with advertisers and opportunities for partners during major sporting events. One of the topics of the discussion was the free channel MEGOGO Sport, which, among other things, broadcasts some sporting events. The moderator, Aryna Yevdokymenko, asked why a paid platform needs to develop a free product and how it works for the business. Zaichuk explained that this line of work serves several purposes at once. First of all, MEGOGO Sport was created as a social project meant to make sports content more accessible to Ukrainians. The channel is available not only on T2 but also through IPTV, cable and satellite networks.

“When we created MEGOGO Sport, it was a social project, unique in Ukraine – a full-fledged sports channel that is absolutely free for all users. Anyone can watch it and enjoy this or that event”, the MEGOGO representative noted.

At the same time, free broadcasts serve to promote the platform itself. According to Ihor Zaichuk, far from every viewer is ready to subscribe right away, so the chance to watch a match or a boxing bout for free helps to introduce the audience to the product.

“The second part, which is mandatory for us, is promoting the MEGOGO platform itself. We let people watch a match, boxing, anything. A person is not always ready to go and pay for a subscription straight away. Maybe they think this will be enough. But when it comes to the point where they want more bright events, more sport, they like the broadcasts, the commentators, the studios and so on, they move to MEGOGO and pay for a subscription”, Zaichuk explained.

Another important task of the free channel is to provide maximum reach for advertisers and sponsors of sports broadcasts. In addition, wide distribution is one of the requirements of international rights holders when media rights are sold.

“The third story is that we want to give maximum reach to our partners who buy advertising and sponsorship activations in sports broadcasts. And the fourth part is a mandatory requirement of the huge rights holders regarding the promotion of sport. You cannot just come in, even with an unlimited amount of money, without meeting every item on distribution, in particular nationwide coverage, and win the tender to cover the whole territory of Ukraine”, stressed MEGOGO’s commercial director.

Separately, he mentioned the platform’s social responsibility, in particular the possibility of watching the matches of Ukraine’s national team for free.

The conversation then turned to what exactly MEGOGO offers business in the sports content market. After all, a partnership with sports broadcasts can include not only classic advertising but also sponsorship, studio integrations, product placement and various digital activations.

Zaichuk explained that all of these tools are ways to deliver an advertising message to the right audience. The main product a partner receives is viewers’ attention and reach.

“If we talk about clients, we sell them reach and users, the attention of users to the products they are watching at that moment. If we talk about subscribers, we sell them sports broadcasts. At the same time, inside MEGOGO we do not separate the sports viewer from the non-sports one. We are building a system that has films, series, national linear and non-linear TV channels, international content and so on”, he said.

According to the media service’s commercial director, advertisers care first of all about the audience and its quantitative indicators, while specific integration formats are chosen according to the partner’s goals.

“If we talk purely about advertising, then everything you mentioned is a set of tools we use to deliver an advertising activation in such a way that our partner gets an audience and reach. In fact, today, looking at video advertising globally, it is not so important to clients where exactly it will be placed, as long as we are talking about licensed, quality content without extremes. They are interested in the reach and the audience they will get”, explained Ihor Zaichuk.

At the same time, the speaker drew attention to a feature of MEGOGO’s sports audience. Since most of the sports content on the platform is available by subscription, the company can work with an audience that is ready to pay to watch sporting events.

“We have gathered the most solvent audience among sports viewers. Almost all sport on MEGOGO is behind a paywall, and this is currently the most expensive subscription in Ukraine. So, answering the question, we sell an audience – the most solvent audience in Ukraine – and in fact the client gets reach”, stressed the platform’s representative.

This reach is achieved with the help of various formats of cooperation: studio integrations, product placement, sponsorship and direct advertising. At the same time, MEGOGO can operate not only with forecasts but also with actual viewing figures.

“With the help of various activations – studios, product placement, sponsorship, direct advertising and so on. I would also like to add that when we talk about the figures we want to get from the exclusive sale of media rights, today we can show our end buyer the figures we already have. Over this period we understand how many consumers we have and what indicators we can reach. That is why it is already easier for us to talk about these figures with potential broadcasters. Again, this path was the right one”, Zaichuk noted.

Sponsors and partners of SBC Summit Ukraine 2026 Lviv

Co-organisers – Mass Sports Agency of Ukraine and Sports Office of the Lviv City Council

Construction partner – system developer RIEL

Business Lounge partner – Jack Daniel’s Gentleman Jack

Accommodation partner – Kostjukowki Apartments. Sports equipment partner – Kappa x KOKOTASPORTS. Mood partner – PRAVDA brewery. Location partner – Barvy Event Hall

Football partner – educational platform Play Vision. Official partner – Ukrainian Karate Federation. Social partner – Shakhtar Social foundation. Exclusive fitness partner – UNI FORCE.

Media partner – media service MEGOGO, Ukraine’s largest media service, which streams exclusive sport, TV channels, films from leading studios and educational courses.

Water partner – Karpatska Dzherelna. Coffee partner – Sky Coffee. Functional partner – DR WITT. Sweet partner – BISCOTTI.

Production partner – NAZHYVO Production. Grooming partners – Barbers, Medosan and Joko Blend. Official partner – restaurant group “Marymo svoieiu spravoiu”.

Technology partner – BotsBand. Style partner – YARMICH. Technical partner – PROOVE. General radio partner – Lvivska Khvylia.

Hospitality partner – IBIS hotel cluster. Digital partner – ROAS marketing agency Red5. Business partner – business park “Europasazh”.

Social partner – Veterans Institute “Architecture of Resilience” of KNUBA. Sports partner – Ukrainian Padel Federation.

Media partners of Sport&Business Club – Epicentr, Avtoradio, Kyivstar TV and Setanta Sports. Advertising partner – MS Outdoor.

Information partners – the TV channels “Mi – Ukraina” and “Mi – Ukraina+”, Marketer, Tribuna.com, Football Hub, Interfax, the websites Sport.ua, SportArena.com, UA.NEWS and XSPORT, the news portal “Korol Danylo”, the platform “Football 2.0”, “Egoist” and PEREHOVORKA. Fashion partner – Fashion TV

Source: Sport Business Media (sportbusiness.media), https://sportbusiness.media/2026/11/02/igor-zajchuk-my-prodayemo-audytoriyu-a-kliyent-otrymuye-ohoplennya/