Oganes Sobolev began his television and marketing career back in 1989 during the end of Perestroika when he served as the Moscow representative of Comspan Communications, Inc. (Comspan). One of the most successful projects during his years with Comspan was the launch of "Santa Barbara," the leading prime-time series in Russia for 10 years.

While at Comspan, Mr. Sobolev also worked in television content acquisitions for Russia's national television stations, where he established strong relations with top US broadcast and cable networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, ESPN), major US production companies (Warner Bros, Paramount, Universal, Walt Disney) and European television stations (BBC, ITN, Canal+).

In 1992, Mr. Sobolev co-founded media sales company Video International, which currently turns around more than 65% of Russian television advertising budgets (est. USD 5 bln.), and has a strong foothold in Internet, radio and publishing sales. The company maintains 42 offices in major cities throughout Russia and five offices in the CIS countries (Ukraine, Kazakhstan, etc.) with more than 3,500 employees.

During his 20 years of experience, Mr Sobolev also established and managed a number of joint ventures in Russia with top international advertising agencies, including Saatchi & Saatchi, Mediaedge: CIA, Mindshare, Mediacom, JWT, and Dentsu. In addition to his position at METAN, Mr. Sobolev is a partner and member of the Board of Directors at Video International (a Top 100 Russian Enterprise), an investor and Director at Russian Media Ventures (a specialized media fund), Director at the Moscow Consulting Group (a London-based consulting company) and a member of the Board of Directors at WPP Russia.