The Russian TV market now offers 2,370 TV channels, according to a European Audiovisual Observatory report.
‘Focus on the audiovisual industry in the Russian Federation’ details key trends in the television and on-demand sectors, supplemented by detailed information about the sources of industry financing and an overview of the legal framework.
It found that over two thirds of Russian TV households subscribed to pay-TV in 2014, as well as discovering a rapid growth in the Russian VoD market, with more than 40 services available by the end of 2015.
It reported a significant growth in pay-TV subscribers in 2014, rising to 68 per cent of households (37.7 million), up eight per cent from the previous year. The growth took the overall estimated pay-TV market value to RUB61.2 billion.
It was also concluded that market growth is gradually slowing down, with an overall growth of just seven to eight per cent in 2014.
The report stated, “The main trend in pay-TV over the next few years will be a growing subscriber base in the digital segment and in IPTV.
“Growth will be moderate, though rates of growth could vary significantly between individual operators.
“The significant network modernisation observed over the past two to three years is not expected to continue, due to financial and economic difficulties in the market.”
