Russian pay TV growth expected to slow this year

Growth in the Russian pay TV market is likely to slow significantly this year in both number of subscribers and revenue, according to the latest study of the Russian market by J’son & Partners Consulting. 

According to the research group, the Russian market will see subscriber numbers grow by about 4% this year, down from 10% growth last year, while the value of the market will grow by 9%, down from 14%.

J’son & Partners predicts that market will growth will remain slow for the next five years, with the value of the market expected to reach RUB75.9 billion (€1.6 billion) and the number of subscribers expected to reach 40.9 million by 2018.

According to the group, local pay TV operators have struggled to secure finance to expand to new regional markets and have faced additional competition from OTT services.

The Russian pay TV universe amounted to 35.1 million subscribers at the end of last year, according to J’son & Partners, representing 64% of all Russian households.

The value of the market at the end of 2013 was RUB57.1 billion, with cable accounting for 54.6% of total revenues, followed by satellite with 32% and IPTV with 13.3%.

The growth rates experienced by each segment reversed that order. IPTV led the way with 47.2% growth, followed by satellite with 18.5% growth. Cable was more or less flat year-on-year.