As of the end of 2015 there were 2370 TV channels operating in the Russian TV market. At the same time, according to a study, 68% of Russian households with TV were subscribers to pay-TV services at the end of 2014.
The report edited by the European Audiovisual Observatory states that there are over 2300 TV channels authorized to operate in the Russian market, and they are already accessible or licenced to broadcast in the country.
80% of these TV channels are owned by private companies, 13% are the state-owned, and 5% have combined ownership. A third of all these channels are general regional TV channels, and the format of 21% of channels, according to the report, provides for broadcasting entertainment content and lifestyle programs.
As for Russia’s major media groups, the report refers to the companies Gazprom-Media, VGTRK and National Media Group. The Gazprom Media Group owns more than 50 TV channels, including those incorporated in the Red Media and ProfMedia holdings. The VGTRK outright or partially owns 30 TV channels, as well as regional television and radio companies. And the National Media Group incorporates 25 channels.
“In general, more than half of all TV channels accessible in Russia, are the pay-per-view ones, and most of free TV channels are represented by regional TV and radio terrestrial broadcasting companies. Therefore, in every Russian region, the viewer must pay for accessing most of TV channels”, as stated in the report “Focus on the Audiovisual Industry in the Russian Federation”.
In 2014, the share of Russian households subscribed to pay-TV services reached 68%, i.e. 8% more than the year before. The highest saturation of pay-TV was seen in the Central and Northwestern federal districts of Russia, 80% and 77%, respectively. Meanwhile, the fastest growth rates in this sector were observed in Siberia, i.e. 15%.
The report states that the total number of pay-TV subscribers in Russia reached 37.7 million in 2014, and the total industry revenue amounted to near RUB 61.2 billion.
The European Audiovisual Observatory also stated the high growth rate in the Russian market of video-on-demand services (VoD): by the end of 2015 there were available 40 platforms offering VoD services in Russia, at the same time the market is dominated by transaction and subscription business models.
As highlighted in the report, the leading VoD platform is ivi.ru. It has 38 million viewers. Next in the list there are Zoomby (17 million users), Megogo (14,3 million) and Tvigle (11,4 million).
All these services make money mainly on advertising, while ivi and Megogo also offer content subscription, rental and purchase. Tvigle also offers content rental.
Being ranked sixth in the VoD list, the company Okko, the main business model of which is content sales and rental, and the auxiliary one is subscription, was named the leader in terms of revenue. In the first half of 2015 its revenues amounted to RUB 630 million.
“The VoD sector continues growing and its growth rate is higher than in other segments of the audiovisual industry. In the future, we can expect strengthening positions of the companies that offer subscription services, as well as further growth due to mergers and acquisitions”, as stated in a report.
