According to the study conducted by the Telecom Daily’s analysts, the volume of pay-TV market of the Russian Federation increased by 6.6%, amounting to over RUR 65 billion.
According to Denis Kuskov, CEO at the agency Telecom Daily, pay-TV services are enjoyed by 72% of Russian viewers, or 39,62 million subscribers. Over the past year, the number of pay-TV users increased by 5.4% (2,02 million customers), which is 1.1% less than in 2014.
According to the last year’s results, there was a change of favorites. The company “Orion Express” joined the leaders for the first time, and its 2,8 million customers secured it the third rating position. In 2015, the operator showed the highest subscriber growth rate among the competitors (8.5%).
The top three winners at the end of the year, was not entered by MTS, which ranked fourth. The company’s customers are 2,795 million subscribers, which is 1.3% more than in 2014. It is noteworthy that in the III quarter of 2015, MTS ranked strongly the third, serving 2,785 million users.
Dmitry Solodovnikov, representing the satellite operator MTS, disagrees with the results, made public by the Telecom Daily. According to him, the study does not take into account the users of MTS satellite TV. This, in turn, is countered by the CEO at the Telecom Daily. According to Mr. Kuskov, when calculating the subscribers, the ones of MTS satellite TV were taken into account as well.
The first Telecom Daily’s rating position, as before, was won by the Tricolor TV with its subscriber base of 11,8 million, which is 8.3% more compared to the end of 2014. The second position went to the Rostelecom, which, due to introducing OTT services in past November, increased the number of its customers by 7.3% (up to 8,56 million).
The top five leaders are completed by the “ER-Telecom” with 2,685 million clients (a 2.5% growth). The calculation did not take into account the subscribers to Yaroslavlteleseti, as its purchase by the “ER-Telecom” for RUR 305,5 million in past February was canceled by the ruling of the Yaroslavl Arbitration Court.
In general, the companies ranking top-five serve 72% of audience who enjoys pay-TV services. 90% of subscribers connected to that service in 2015 are their customers.
